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By 1985, the second generation of upgrades for Soviet ground vehicles and aviation in Afghanistan became available. One of the good examples of it was this Mi-8MTV-1: this variant received not only better navigational systems (important for operations in the high mountains, as was usual in Afghanistan), but also a 7.62mm machine gun installed in the nose, armour plates along the lower sides of the cockpit and cabin seats, the rescue winch and, most importantly, improved flare dispensers on the rear of the fuselage, and exhaust diffusers. By then, most of the older Mi-8MTs had been upgraded to a similar configuration, while newly-built Mi-8MTV-1 had received slightly different versions of this camouflage pattern in Soviet made colours similar to sky (BS381C/210), and aircraft grey green (BS381C/283) or camouflage beige (BS381C/389) on upper surfaces and sides. Undersides were usually painted in light admiralty grey (BS381C/697). Underslung armament usually included B-8V30 pods for 80mm calibre unguided rockets. (Artwork by Tom Cooper)