Baluch Hind Gunship War Rug 20th C
For me the best part of this rug is the lower two helicopters which are extermely well drawn Hind Helicopter gunships. Hind is the NATO appellation for this craft which was actually the Mil Mi-24 by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant. The Hind was the attack gunship that the Soviets used in the Russian Afghan war. It could carry troops but for most troop transport The Russians used the larger capacity "Hip" helicopter. The Hind was faster, lighter, more heavily armored and had ferocious firepower. It dominated the skies of Afghanistan until the Mujeheddin got the Stinger Weapons System shoulder fired missile which allowed the Mujeheddin to remove the Soviet air dominience. The grenades are interesting as well. They are the Soviet F-1 popularly called the limonka, Russian for lemon grenade. A note about Authenticity: I consider real war rugs to be those made in Afghanistan. The rugs woven in Pakistan are less authentic and tend to be most always commercial expoitation rugs. So how do we tell the difference? Structure and matterials are key clues but I find the weapos in the rug tell a story. Rugs woven in Afghanistan usually use Soviet versions and rugs from Pakistan usually portray American weapons. The exception is the ubiquitous AK-47/AK-74 assault rifle but the more authentic the weapons the more authentic the rugs. One interesting exception was a Maimana area rug with UZI sub-machine guns. Why Israeli weapons? Israel was playing politics in Northen Afghanistan just after the Russian war ended.
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