The Mil Mi-2 (NATO reporting name is 'Hoplite') is a small, lightly armored transport helicopter that could also provide close air support when armed with 57 mm rockets and a 23 mm cannon.
The Mi-2 was produced exclusively in Poland, in the WSK 'PZL-?widnik' factory in ?widnik. Production ended in 1985 after about 7,200 were made.The first production helicopter in the Soviet Union was the Mil Mi-1, modelled along the lines of the S-71 and Sycamore and flown by Mikhail Mil's bureau in September 1948. During the 1950s it became evident, and confirmed by American and French development, that helicopters could be greatly improved with turbine engines. S. P. Isotov developed the GTD-350 engine and Mil used two of these in the far superior Mi-2. After initial development at the Mil bureau (Soviet designation V-2) this was transferred to Poland in 1964, after the first Swidnik-built example had flown. WSK-Swidnik has since delivered many hundreds, possibly one-third of them to military customers, and developed plastic rotor blades and the wide-body Mi-2M seating 10 passengers instead of eight. Most typical role kits include four stretchers, as air ambulance, or aerospraying or cropdusting device. In Poland, there were also developed several specialized military variants, first of all support or reconnaissance ones, with 23 mm autocannon, machine guns and/or two 57 mm rocket pods, four AT-3B Sagger (9M14M Malutka) anti-tank missiles or Strela-2 AA missiles. | 
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