​russia Sends Rare Mi-35P Phoenix Helicopters to Guinea – How Many Does russia Really Have?

russia has delivered at least two rare Mi-35P Phoenix helicopters to Guinea, according to photos circulating online. russian sources report that no previous deliveries of this type of helicopter to this African country have been recorded.

This raises a question: does russia really have that many Mi-35P Phoenix helicopters available for export to Africa, even in one-off deliveries?

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It is worth noting that production of the Mi-35P Phoenix variant by the russian defense industry began only in 2020. It is unknown how many of these helicopters the russian Armed Forces currently possess. The only available figure indicates that russian Army Aviation may have more than fifty Mi-35 helicopters of all variants at its disposal.

The first presentation of the Mi-35P Phoenix took place during the Armiya-2018 trade show. The key features of this variant, compared to the baseline Mi-35, include retractable landing gear and six hardpoints instead of four.

The armament includes a twin 23-mm nose-mounted cannon on a movable turret, Vikhr and Ataka guided anti-tank missiles, and Igla MANPADS configured for an air-to-air role. The onboard equipment includes the OPS-24N-1L observation-sight system with thermal imaging and television cameras.

In Guinea, there are currently around 200 russian military personnel, deployed under the stated aim of “combating terrorism.” It is likely that this Mi-35P Phoenix (or possibly more than one) was supplied to the russian military contingent, although the aircraft in the photo carries the insignia of the Guinean Air Force.

The Guinean Armed Forces have a strength of around 9,700 personnel and are equipped with 15 PT-76 tanks, up to 230 armored vehicles of various types, and more than 50 artillery systems, including four BM-21 Grad and three BM-27 Uragan systems. Officially, the Guinean Air Force operates two MiG-21s and four Mi-24s, though these are listed in storage, suggesting a lack of currently combat-ready air assets.

Against this backdrop, the delivery of even one or a few modern Mi-35M Phoenix helicopters to Guinea could appear to be an “unprecedented gift” from russia. This suggests that, given the reported losses of military equipment in the full-scale war in Ukraine, the Kremlin may be shifting toward supplying equipment to Africa in smaller, piecemeal deliveries.

A similar case occurred in April 2026, when russia transferred two BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles to Madagascar.

Ivan Kyrychevskiy, serviceman of the Raid 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment, Defense Express expert.

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