Currently, the largest and most powerful helicopter to have ever entered production is the gargantuan Mi-26 'Halo' of Russian origin, of which many still serve in governmental and commercial roles around the globe. After decades of the 'Halo' being on top, a new record holder is now said to be on the way, with Russia and China joining forces to make it happen.

This new super-heavy lift class chopper was originally thought to be an outgrowth of the existing, all-weather capable and highly modernized Mi-26T2, but now it seems that it will only borrow a few elements from it, and will overwhelmingly be a 'clean sheet' design.

The fresh design approach is due to China's eye popping requirements. According to Russia, they are said to include almost twice the lifting capacity of the already freakishly powerful and huge Mi-26. That would put the new chopper's lifting ability at somewhere around 80,000lbs! In comparison, the CH-53K 'King Stallion,' America's latest heavy lift design, has a total gross weight just slightly above that figure at 88,000lbs.

You heard that right, this new Russian-Chinese super chopper is aiming to be able to lift roughly the equivalent of America's newest heavy-lift chopper in its entirety, at its maximum gross weight. That is one powerful helicopter.

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