A screen capture from a video, taken from the weapon systems officer's (WSO or “Wizzo”) forward view from his cockpit, located in the nose of a Mil Mi-24D gunship (NATO reporting name Hind-D). Directly in front of him is the KPS-53AV gun/bomb sight system which takes up a good portion of his available cockpit space.
The KPS-53AV is used by the WSO to aim the Yakushev-Borzov YakB-12.7 4-barrel rotary heavy machine gun mounted in a USPU-24 chin turret. In fact, the end of the YakB-12.7 can be seen just above the sight. The toggle on the left front side of the sight reads “ВКЛ СЧИСЛЕНИЕ” which translates as “On Counting” while the red triggers on either side of the unit have “ОГОНЬ” on them which means “Fire”. The angled KS-53 reflex sight glass is in the center. The knobbed grip on the left side of the sight is used to traverse the chin turret (60 degrees to either side of the centerline) with the entire KPS-53AV swiveling to allow the WSO to track targets. On the right side, the other grip controls the elevation and depression of the YakB-12.7 (20 degrees and 60 degrees respectively). The KPS-53AV is stabilized and includes a VSB-24 analog ballistic calculator. Linked to a air pressure sensor and a angle-of-attack sensor mounted in a boom on the exterior of the helicopter (not visible in this screen capture), the calculator takes the data from the sensors and combines them with the ballistics of the YakB-12.7 to provide aiming correction. The KPS-53AV also has a range finder that can determine target distance but the WSO must manually input the size of the intended target. The KPS-53AV is also used by the WSO to deliver unguided bombs. While the pilot has some control over the helicopter's weapons (and has his own limited capacity sights), only the WSO can accurately conduct bombing runs. The pilot doesn't have a bomb sight though he can jettison the bombs in the cases of emergencies.
The YakB-12.7 in the Mi-24D is provided with 1,470 rounds of ammunition and unlike most rotary weapons, the YakB-12.7 is purely gas operated and does not need an external motor to drive the barrels. The maximum rate of fire is between 4,000 to 5,000 rounds per minute so with such a ravenous consumption, the WSO will typically fire short bursts in order to conserve ammunition.
To the left of the KPS-53AV is a radar altimeter which measures the height (altitude) of the helicopter above the ground immediately below it. A look at the reading and at the time of the screen capture, the helicopter was flying a little over 21 feet off the ground. To the right is the screen for a GPS.
