The Soviet military originally argued against a new helicopter, as they were content with the current Mil Mi-4. To counter this, Mikhail Mil proposed that the new helicopter was more of an update to new turbine engines rather than an entirely new helicopter, which persuaded the council of ministers to proceed with production. Due to the position of the engine, this enabled Mikhail Mil to justify redesigning the entire front half of the aircraft around the single engine.

The prototype, which was named