The four Soloviev D-25VF turboshafts produced 6,500 shaft horsepower each while driving the twin 35-meter-diameter main rotor blades. Performance specifications included a maximum speed of 162 miles per hour, a cruise speed of 150 miles per hour, a ferry range out to 620 miles, and a combat range of 310 miles. Its service ceiling peaked at 11,500 feet.
Initial testing began in 1967 and ended in a hop of the machine due to oscillation issues which caused a hard landing- though damaged, the aircraft was not a total loss. Construction was completed for 1968 which allowed for more deeper testing to continue and ultimately led to an official first flight on July 10th, 1968. Its first payload test came the following year when a prototype hauled over 68,000 lb of goods airborne. The first prototype wowed audiences attending the 1971 Paris Air Show (le Bourget). The second prototype was not realized until March of 1973 after delays in acquiring its engines.
The V-12 continued to impress throughout its developmental life. However, the Soviet mission began to change and the system fell victim to no longer having a defined role to explain its development, procurement, and operating costs. As such, the V-12 program was cancelled after the two prototypes and no further work on the pair was done after 1974. For a time, the V-12 was also considered for industry and civilian transport service but this fell to naught as well. The Soviet military eventually adopted the Mil Mi-26 ("Halo") series in 1983 to fulfill its revised heavy-lift role.
V-12 served as the prototype designation which numbered just the two aforementioned aircraft. In serial production, the aircraft would have been given the designation of Mi-12. V-16 was a proposed super-heavy-lift variant of the V-12 and set to become the Mi-16 in production. This model was intended to haul up to 110,000 lb of goods utilizing six Soloviev engines with a three rotor configuration (later revised to twin-rotor design). A proposed revised version of the V-16 also emerged though with a slightly different engine set (Soloviev D-30Vs) as the Mi-12M but this mark joined the others in never seeing the light of day.
Despite the perceived failure of the V-12 program, the massive aircraft managed to find its way into the world aviation record books as it set multiple records dealing with payload-to-altitude during flights in 1969.
Fortunately, both of the completed prototypes were saved from the scrap heap - the first residing at the MIL Moscow Helicopter Plant (Moscow) and the second finding a home at the outdoor Monino Air Force Museum Display (Monino Airfield) as of 2015.
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