Kamov Ka-50
Encyclopedia
The Kamov Ka-50 "Black Shark" ( Black Shark, NATO reporting name
: Hokum A) is a single-seat Russian attack helicopter
with the distinctive coaxial rotor system of the Kamov
design bureau. It was designed in the 1980s and adopted for service in the Russian army
in 1995. It is currently manufactured by the Progress company in Arsenyev
.
During the late 1990s, Kamov and Israel Aerospace Industries developed a tandem-seat cockpit version, the Kamov Ka-50-2 "Erdogan", to compete in Turkey
's attack helicopter competition. Kamov also designed another two-seat variant, the Kamov Ka-52 "Alligator" .
prototype. Production of the attack helicopter was ordered by the Soviet Council of Ministers on 14 December 1987. Development of the helicopter was first reported in the West in 1984. The first photograph appeared in 1989. Following initial flight testing and system tests the Council ordered the first batch of helicopters in 1990. The attack helicopter was first described publicly as the "Ka-50" in March 1992 at a symposium in the United Kingdom.
The helicopter was publicly unveiled at the Mosaeroshow '92 at Zhukovskiy
, in August 1992. The following month, the second production example made its foreign debut at the Farnborough Airshow, where it was displayed with an image of a werewolf on its rudder—gaining the popular nickname "Werewolf". The fifth prototype gave the Ka-50 a particularly enduring designation. Painted black for its starring role in the movie Чёрная акула/Black Shark, the helicopter has been known by that nickname ever since. In November 1993, four production helicopters were flown to the Army Aviation Combat Training Centre at Torzhok
to begin field trials. The president of the Russian Federation authorized the fielding of the Ka-50 with the Russian Army
on 28 August 1995. The collapse of the Soviet Union
led to a severe drop in defense procurement. This resulted in a mere dozen Ka-50s instead of the planned several hundred being delivered, meaning that there was still no proper replacement for the Mi-24.
The Ka-50 was designed to be small, fast and agile to improve survivability and lethality. For minimal weight and size (thus maximum speed and agility) it was—uniquely among gunships–to be operated by a single pilot only. Kamov concluded after thorough research of helicopter combat in Afghanistan and other war zones that the typical attack mission phases of low-level approach, pop-up target acquisition and weapon launch do not simultaneously demand navigation, maneuvering and weapons operation of the pilot; and thus with well-designed support automation a single pilot can carry out the entire mission alone. During operational testing in the 1985–86, the workload on the pilot was similar to a fighter-bomber pilot, and the pilot could perform both flying and navigation duties.
Like other Kamov helicopters, it features Kamov's characteristic contra-rotating co-axial rotor system, which removes the need for the entire tail rotor
assembly and improves the aircraft's aerobatic qualities—it can perform loops, rolls and “the funnel” (circle-strafing), where the aircraft maintains a line-of-sight to the target while flying circles of varying altitude, elevation and airspeed around it. Using two rotors means that a smaller rotor with slower-moving rotor tips can be used compared to a single-rotor design. Since the speed of the advancing rotor tip is a primary limitation to the maximum speed of a helicopter, this allows a faster maximum speed than helicopters such as the AH-64. The elimination of the tail rotor is a qualitative advantage because the torque-countering tail rotor can use up to 30% of engine power. Furthermore, the vulnerable boom and rear gearbox are fairly common causes of helicopter losses in combat; the Black Shark's entire transmission presents a comparatively small target to ground fire.
The single-seat configuration was considered undesirable by NATO. The first two Ka-50 prototypes had false windows painted on them. The "windows" evidently worked as the first western reports of the aircraft were wildly inaccurate. For improved pilot survivability the Ka-50 is fitted with a NPP Zvezda
K-37-800 ejection seat, which is a rare feature for a helicopter. Before the rocket in the ejection seat deploys, the rotor blades are blown away by explosive charges in the rotor disc and the canopy is jettisoned.
The Ka-50 and its modifications have been chosen as the special forces' support helicopter while the Mil Mi-28
has become the main army's gunship. The production of Ka-50 was recommenced in 2006. In 2009, Russian Air Force received three examples, built from incomplete airframes that dated back to mid-1990s.
However, the economic hardships that hit the nation in the late 1980s hampered the development program of the new type. This prompted Kamov's Designer General to choose a modified version of Ka-50 on which to install the recce and target designation system. The modified "Hokum" required a second crew member to operate the optronics/radar recce suite. Kamov decided to use side-by-side seating arrangement, due to the verified improvements in co-operation between the crew members. This twin-seat version of the "Hokum" received a designation of Ka-52. Manufacturing of the first Ka-52 airframe began in mid-1996. Serial production was started in autumn 2008.
The Ka-52 is another modification of the basic Ka-50 design. It features a two-seat side-by-side cockpit, and is designed to detect targets and redistribute them among supporting Ka-50s and Mi-28s. In comparison to the original Ka-50, it has a somewhat "softer" nose profile due to the wider cockpit, reduced cockpit armor and large nose-mounted radome. Equipment includes radar with two antennas—mast-mounted for aerial targets and nose-mounted for ground targets, and "Samshite" day-and-night TV/thermal sighting system in two spherical turrets (one over the cockpit and the second under the nose). The Ka-52 retains the side-mounted cannon and six wing-mounted hardpoints of the original Ka-50.
The Ka-52 has completed the state trials. The fourth operationally configured helicopter was taken on strength by the Russian Air Force
on 10 February 2011. Under the current State Defense Procurement Plan, Russian Armed Forces will receive 30 helicopters by 2012. A second batch of 36 helicopters will be inducted to service in early 2012.
The 696th Instructor and Research Helicopter Regiment is operating eight helicopters, in varying degrees of capability and/or modification, for the purpose of ongoing research and development. In December 2010, four new production Kamov Ka-52 were delivered to the Regiment. Mistral class amphibious assault ships, ordered by the Russian Defense Ministry, will be armed with Ka-52 helicopters.
for "Born Warrior") in a Turkish design competition for a $4 billion contract for 145 (later changed to 50) combat helicopters.
The Ka-50-2 is a tandem
cockpit variant of the Ka-50. It featured a modern, Israeli-made "glass cockpit
" avionics and a turret-mounted folding (for landing clearance) 30 mm cannon instead of the fixed cannon on the Ka-50. It features combat-proven avionics and advanced anti-tank guided missiles for a high level of combat effectiveness. The helicopter has excellent flight performance, and high combat survivability due to its coaxial rotor technology. It is equipped with IAI's flexible modular avionics suite, which can be readily tailored to meet the TLF's operational requirements and provides growth potential.
IAI and Kamov performed flights of the variant with IAI's Core Avionics. These flights demonstrated the helicopter's "glass cockpit" with multifunctional displays and Control and Display Unit (CDU) driven by centralized mission computers. Also tested were its flight navigation and the operation of the Helicopter Multi-Mission Optronic Stabilized Payload (HMOSP) targeting system. The demonstration flights included night mission capability demonstrations using Night Vision Goggles
(NVG) and the day/night targeting system.
The Erdogan, Eurocopter Tiger
, AH-64 Apache
, AH-2 Rooivalk and A129 Mangusta helicopters lost to an improved version of AH-1 SuperCobra
. In the end the contract went to the A129 in 2007.
s under the stub wings plus two on the wingtips, a total of some 2,000 kg depending on the mix.
The main armament are the twelve laser-guided Vikhr anti-tank missiles with a maximum range of some 8 km. The laser guidance is reported to be virtually jam-proof and the system features automatic guidance to target, enabling evasive action immediately after missile launch. The fire control system automatically shares all target information among the four Black Sharks of a typical flight in real time, allowing one helicopter to engage a target spotted by another, and the system can also input target information from ground-based forward scouts with personnel-carried target designation gear. The Ka-50 can also carry several rocket pods, which include the S-13
and S-8 rocket
s. The "dumb" rocket pods could be upgraded to laser guided with the proposed Ugroza
system. The integrated 30 mm cannon is semi-rigidly fixed on the helicopter's side, movable only slightly in elevation and azimuth. The semi-rigid mounting improves the cannon's accuracy, giving the 30 mm a longer practical range and better hit ratio at medium ranges than with a free-turning turret mount.
unguided rockets to destroy a warehouse full of ammunition belonging to Chechen insurgents. On 6 February, in the forest covered mountain area to the south of the village of Tsentoroj, the strike group composed of two Ka-50s and the sole Ka-29 discovered and, from a range of 3 km, destroyed a fortified camp of insurgents using two "Vikhr" guided missiles. 14 February, saw a similar strike group carrying out a "hunting" mission in the area of Oak-Yurt and Hatun. In difficult conditions, pilots found and destroyed eight targets. These missions tested the type's airframe, as well as its on-board systems and armament. Its successful performance in difficult, mountainous terrain once again confirmed the usefulness of the many advanced features of the Ka-50's design, including its power and maneuverability.
It is unclear if the type has been used in combat since. It has participated in a number of exercises, including "Boundary 2004" which took place on the Edelweiss mountain range in Kyrgyzstan
, in August 2004. Once again the "Hokum" demonstrated its advantages by operating at a high altitude and an air temperature of more than 30 °C. A Ka-50 provided cover for the landing of troops and then successfully worked on the ground targets using its cannons and rockets.
Ka-50 Bort 22 with a distinctive "Black Shark" livery was lost in a crash during 1998. Its pilot Maj.Gen. Boris Vorobyov was killed in the crash.
India issued a request for proposal for 22 attack helicopters for the Indian Air Force
in May 2008. The Kamov Ka-50 along with Mil's Mi-28 and Eurocopter's Tiger
were the front-runners for this order as of October 2008. The tender though was eventually cancelled and later India announced a new tender, with revised conditions. Russia again offered Mi-28N and Ka-52.
Russia is receiving Ka-52s as of 2 January 2011.
NATO reporting name
NATO reporting names are classified code names for military equipment of the Eastern Bloc...
: Hokum A) is a single-seat Russian attack helicopter
Attack helicopter
An attack helicopter is a military helicopter with the primary role of an attack aircraft, with the capability of engaging targets on the ground, such as enemy infantry and armored vehicles...
with the distinctive coaxial rotor system of the Kamov
Kamov
Kamov is a Russian rotor-winged aircraft manufacturing company that was founded by Nikolai Il'yich Kamov, who started building his first rotor-winged aircraft in 1929, together with N. K. Skrzhinskii...
design bureau. It was designed in the 1980s and adopted for service in the Russian army
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are the military services of Russia, established after the break-up of the Soviet Union. On 7 May 1992 Boris Yeltsin signed a decree establishing the Russian Ministry of Defence and placing all Soviet Armed Forces troops on the territory of the RSFSR...
in 1995. It is currently manufactured by the Progress company in Arsenyev
Arsenyev
Arsenyev is a town in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located about northeast of Vladivostok. Population: -History:The history of Arsenyev begins in 1895, when the settlement of Semyonovka was founded. The first settlement dwellers were the Old Believers. In 1901 the migrant peasants from what is now...
.
During the late 1990s, Kamov and Israel Aerospace Industries developed a tandem-seat cockpit version, the Kamov Ka-50-2 "Erdogan", to compete in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
's attack helicopter competition. Kamov also designed another two-seat variant, the Kamov Ka-52 "Alligator" .
Development
The Ka-50 is the production version of the V-80Sh-1Kamov V-80
The Kamov V-80 was a design study designation for an attack helicopter that eventually evolved into the single seat Kamov Ka-50 family of aircraft.-Design and development:...
prototype. Production of the attack helicopter was ordered by the Soviet Council of Ministers on 14 December 1987. Development of the helicopter was first reported in the West in 1984. The first photograph appeared in 1989. Following initial flight testing and system tests the Council ordered the first batch of helicopters in 1990. The attack helicopter was first described publicly as the "Ka-50" in March 1992 at a symposium in the United Kingdom.
The helicopter was publicly unveiled at the Mosaeroshow '92 at Zhukovskiy
Ramenskoye Airport
Ramenskoye Airport , also known as Ramenskoye Airfield or Zhukovsky Airfield, is an airport in Moscow Oblast, Russia located 40 km southeast of Moscow and near the town of Ramenskoye. It serves as a major aircraft testing facility since the Cold War years with the majority of the major Russian...
, in August 1992. The following month, the second production example made its foreign debut at the Farnborough Airshow, where it was displayed with an image of a werewolf on its rudder—gaining the popular nickname "Werewolf". The fifth prototype gave the Ka-50 a particularly enduring designation. Painted black for its starring role in the movie Чёрная акула/Black Shark, the helicopter has been known by that nickname ever since. In November 1993, four production helicopters were flown to the Army Aviation Combat Training Centre at Torzhok
Torzhok
Torzhok is a town in Tver Oblast, Russia, famous for its folk craft of goldwork embroidery. Population: Torzhok has twenty-two large and medium-sized industrial enterprises. Two of them are especially significant...
to begin field trials. The president of the Russian Federation authorized the fielding of the Ka-50 with the Russian Army
Russian Ground Forces
The Russian Ground Forces are the land forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed from parts of the collapsing Soviet Army in 1992. The formation of these forces posed economic challenges after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and required reforms to professionalize the force...
on 28 August 1995. The collapse of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
led to a severe drop in defense procurement. This resulted in a mere dozen Ka-50s instead of the planned several hundred being delivered, meaning that there was still no proper replacement for the Mi-24.
The Ka-50 was designed to be small, fast and agile to improve survivability and lethality. For minimal weight and size (thus maximum speed and agility) it was—uniquely among gunships–to be operated by a single pilot only. Kamov concluded after thorough research of helicopter combat in Afghanistan and other war zones that the typical attack mission phases of low-level approach, pop-up target acquisition and weapon launch do not simultaneously demand navigation, maneuvering and weapons operation of the pilot; and thus with well-designed support automation a single pilot can carry out the entire mission alone. During operational testing in the 1985–86, the workload on the pilot was similar to a fighter-bomber pilot, and the pilot could perform both flying and navigation duties.
Tail rotor
The tail rotor, or anti-torque rotor, is a smaller rotor mounted so that it rotates vertically or near-vertically at the end of the tail of a traditional single-rotor helicopter. The tail rotor's position and distance from the center of gravity allow it to develop thrust in the same direction as...
assembly and improves the aircraft's aerobatic qualities—it can perform loops, rolls and “the funnel” (circle-strafing), where the aircraft maintains a line-of-sight to the target while flying circles of varying altitude, elevation and airspeed around it. Using two rotors means that a smaller rotor with slower-moving rotor tips can be used compared to a single-rotor design. Since the speed of the advancing rotor tip is a primary limitation to the maximum speed of a helicopter, this allows a faster maximum speed than helicopters such as the AH-64. The elimination of the tail rotor is a qualitative advantage because the torque-countering tail rotor can use up to 30% of engine power. Furthermore, the vulnerable boom and rear gearbox are fairly common causes of helicopter losses in combat; the Black Shark's entire transmission presents a comparatively small target to ground fire.
The single-seat configuration was considered undesirable by NATO. The first two Ka-50 prototypes had false windows painted on them. The "windows" evidently worked as the first western reports of the aircraft were wildly inaccurate. For improved pilot survivability the Ka-50 is fitted with a NPP Zvezda
NPP Zvezda
Research & Development Production Enterprise Zvezda, or R&D PE Zvezda is a Russian manufacturer of life-support systems for high-altitude flight and human spaceflight. Its products include space suits, ejector seats, aircraft escape slides, lifejackets and fire extinguishers...
K-37-800 ejection seat, which is a rare feature for a helicopter. Before the rocket in the ejection seat deploys, the rotor blades are blown away by explosive charges in the rotor disc and the canopy is jettisoned.
The Ka-50 and its modifications have been chosen as the special forces' support helicopter while the Mil Mi-28
Mil Mi-28
The Mil Mi-28 is a Russian all-weather day-night military tandem two-seat anti-armour attack helicopter. It is a dedicated attack helicopter with no intended secondary transport capability, better optimized than the Mil Mi-24 for the role...
has become the main army's gunship. The production of Ka-50 was recommenced in 2006. In 2009, Russian Air Force received three examples, built from incomplete airframes that dated back to mid-1990s.
Ka-50N and Ka-50Sh
From the time the Ka-50 was ordered in 1987 it was known that the limited night-time capability of the original Ka-50 version would have to be upgraded to meet night attack requirements. Some Ka-50s were fitted with low-light TV and infrared sensors for testing. Kamov drafted a design in 1993 that included the Shkval-N sighting system that included an infrared sensor. They were named Ka-50N ("Nochnoy/Night") and Ka-50Sh ("Shar/Sphere"—because of the spherical FLIR turret). Many variants were tried; on some the original "Shkval" was supplemented by a thermal imaging system, while on others—completely replaced by "Samshite" day-and-night system (also used on Ka-52), including French SAGEM or Thomson thermal imagers. None of those have entered full production.Ka-52 "Alligator"
In the early 1980s, while the comparative tests of the V-80 (Ka-50 prototype) and the Mi-28 were still ongoing, the Kamov design team came up with a proposal to develop a dedicated helicopter to conduct battlefield reconnaissance, provide target designation and support group attack helicopter operations.However, the economic hardships that hit the nation in the late 1980s hampered the development program of the new type. This prompted Kamov's Designer General to choose a modified version of Ka-50 on which to install the recce and target designation system. The modified "Hokum" required a second crew member to operate the optronics/radar recce suite. Kamov decided to use side-by-side seating arrangement, due to the verified improvements in co-operation between the crew members. This twin-seat version of the "Hokum" received a designation of Ka-52. Manufacturing of the first Ka-52 airframe began in mid-1996. Serial production was started in autumn 2008.
The Ka-52 is another modification of the basic Ka-50 design. It features a two-seat side-by-side cockpit, and is designed to detect targets and redistribute them among supporting Ka-50s and Mi-28s. In comparison to the original Ka-50, it has a somewhat "softer" nose profile due to the wider cockpit, reduced cockpit armor and large nose-mounted radome. Equipment includes radar with two antennas—mast-mounted for aerial targets and nose-mounted for ground targets, and "Samshite" day-and-night TV/thermal sighting system in two spherical turrets (one over the cockpit and the second under the nose). The Ka-52 retains the side-mounted cannon and six wing-mounted hardpoints of the original Ka-50.
The Ka-52 has completed the state trials. The fourth operationally configured helicopter was taken on strength by the Russian Air Force
Russian Air Force
The Russian Air Force is the air force of Russian Military. It is currently under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin. The Russian Navy has its own air arm, the Russian Naval Aviation, which is the former Soviet Aviatsiya Voyenno Morskogo Flota , or AV-MF).The Air Force was formed from...
on 10 February 2011. Under the current State Defense Procurement Plan, Russian Armed Forces will receive 30 helicopters by 2012. A second batch of 36 helicopters will be inducted to service in early 2012.
The 696th Instructor and Research Helicopter Regiment is operating eight helicopters, in varying degrees of capability and/or modification, for the purpose of ongoing research and development. In December 2010, four new production Kamov Ka-52 were delivered to the Regiment. Mistral class amphibious assault ships, ordered by the Russian Defense Ministry, will be armed with Ka-52 helicopters.
Ka-50-2 "Erdogan"
In 1997, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in cooperation with the Kamov bureau entered the Ka-50-2 Erdogan (TurkishTurkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
for "Born Warrior") in a Turkish design competition for a $4 billion contract for 145 (later changed to 50) combat helicopters.
The Ka-50-2 is a tandem
Tandem
Tandem is an arrangement where a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction....
cockpit variant of the Ka-50. It featured a modern, Israeli-made "glass cockpit
Glass cockpit
A glass cockpit is an aircraft cockpit that features electronic instrument displays, typically large LCD screens, as opposed to the traditional style of analog dials and gauges...
" avionics and a turret-mounted folding (for landing clearance) 30 mm cannon instead of the fixed cannon on the Ka-50. It features combat-proven avionics and advanced anti-tank guided missiles for a high level of combat effectiveness. The helicopter has excellent flight performance, and high combat survivability due to its coaxial rotor technology. It is equipped with IAI's flexible modular avionics suite, which can be readily tailored to meet the TLF's operational requirements and provides growth potential.
IAI and Kamov performed flights of the variant with IAI's Core Avionics. These flights demonstrated the helicopter's "glass cockpit" with multifunctional displays and Control and Display Unit (CDU) driven by centralized mission computers. Also tested were its flight navigation and the operation of the Helicopter Multi-Mission Optronic Stabilized Payload (HMOSP) targeting system. The demonstration flights included night mission capability demonstrations using Night Vision Goggles
Night vision goggles
A night vision device is an optical instrument that allows images to be produced in levels of light approaching total darkness. They are most often used by the military and law enforcement agencies, but are available to civilian users...
(NVG) and the day/night targeting system.
The Erdogan, Eurocopter Tiger
Eurocopter Tiger
The Eurocopter Tiger is an attack helicopter manufactured by Eurocopter. In Germany it is known as the Tiger; in France and Spain it is called the Tigre.-Origins:...
, AH-64 Apache
AH-64 Apache
The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the...
, AH-2 Rooivalk and A129 Mangusta helicopters lost to an improved version of AH-1 SuperCobra
AH-1 SuperCobra
The Bell AH-1 SuperCobra is a twin-engine attack helicopter based on the US Army's AH-1 Cobra. The twin Cobra family includes the AH-1J SeaCobra, the AH-1T Improved SeaCobra, and the AH-1W SuperCobra...
. In the end the contract went to the A129 in 2007.
Design
The aircraft carries a substantial load of weapons in four external hardpointHardpoint
A hardpoint, or weapon station, is any part of an airframe designed to carry an external load. This includes a point on the wing or fuselage of military aircraft where external ordnance, countermeasures, gun pods, targeting pods or drop tanks can be mounted.-Rail launchers:Large missiles and...
s under the stub wings plus two on the wingtips, a total of some 2,000 kg depending on the mix.
The main armament are the twelve laser-guided Vikhr anti-tank missiles with a maximum range of some 8 km. The laser guidance is reported to be virtually jam-proof and the system features automatic guidance to target, enabling evasive action immediately after missile launch. The fire control system automatically shares all target information among the four Black Sharks of a typical flight in real time, allowing one helicopter to engage a target spotted by another, and the system can also input target information from ground-based forward scouts with personnel-carried target designation gear. The Ka-50 can also carry several rocket pods, which include the S-13
S-13 rocket
The S-13 is a 122 mm calibre unguided rocket weapon developed by the Soviet Air Force for use by military aircraft. It remains in service with the Russian Air Force and some other countries....
and S-8 rocket
S-8 rocket
The S-8 is a rocket weapon developed by the Soviet Air Force for use by military aircraft. It remains in service with the Russian Air Force and various export customers....
s. The "dumb" rocket pods could be upgraded to laser guided with the proposed Ugroza
Ugroza
Ugroza is a precision-guided weapons system made in Russian Federation. It is an upgrade for standard Russian "dumb" rockets, including the S-5, S-8, and S-13 rockets. The system upgrades the "dumb" rockets with laser guidance, very significantly increasing their accuracy. It requires a laser...
system. The integrated 30 mm cannon is semi-rigidly fixed on the helicopter's side, movable only slightly in elevation and azimuth. The semi-rigid mounting improves the cannon's accuracy, giving the 30 mm a longer practical range and better hit ratio at medium ranges than with a free-turning turret mount.
Operational history
Ka-50 took part in the Russian Army's operations against rebels in the Chechen Republic. In December 2000, a pair of production Ka-50s arrived to the area. With the Ka-50s was a Ka-29, to provide reconnaissance and target designation. On 6 January 2001, the Ka-50 used live weapons against a real enemy for the first time. On 9 January, at the entry into a mountain gorge in the area of a settlement named Komsomolskoye, a single Ka-50 accompanied by an Mi-24 used S-8S-8 rocket
The S-8 is a rocket weapon developed by the Soviet Air Force for use by military aircraft. It remains in service with the Russian Air Force and various export customers....
unguided rockets to destroy a warehouse full of ammunition belonging to Chechen insurgents. On 6 February, in the forest covered mountain area to the south of the village of Tsentoroj, the strike group composed of two Ka-50s and the sole Ka-29 discovered and, from a range of 3 km, destroyed a fortified camp of insurgents using two "Vikhr" guided missiles. 14 February, saw a similar strike group carrying out a "hunting" mission in the area of Oak-Yurt and Hatun. In difficult conditions, pilots found and destroyed eight targets. These missions tested the type's airframe, as well as its on-board systems and armament. Its successful performance in difficult, mountainous terrain once again confirmed the usefulness of the many advanced features of the Ka-50's design, including its power and maneuverability.
It is unclear if the type has been used in combat since. It has participated in a number of exercises, including "Boundary 2004" which took place on the Edelweiss mountain range in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
, in August 2004. Once again the "Hokum" demonstrated its advantages by operating at a high altitude and an air temperature of more than 30 °C. A Ka-50 provided cover for the landing of troops and then successfully worked on the ground targets using its cannons and rockets.
Ka-50 Bort 22 with a distinctive "Black Shark" livery was lost in a crash during 1998. Its pilot Maj.Gen. Boris Vorobyov was killed in the crash.
India issued a request for proposal for 22 attack helicopters for the Indian Air Force
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force is the air arm of the Indian armed forces. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict...
in May 2008. The Kamov Ka-50 along with Mil's Mi-28 and Eurocopter's Tiger
Eurocopter Tiger
The Eurocopter Tiger is an attack helicopter manufactured by Eurocopter. In Germany it is known as the Tiger; in France and Spain it is called the Tigre.-Origins:...
were the front-runners for this order as of October 2008. The tender though was eventually cancelled and later India announced a new tender, with revised conditions. Russia again offered Mi-28N and Ka-52.
Russia is receiving Ka-52s as of 2 January 2011.
Variants
- Kamov V-80Kamov V-80The Kamov V-80 was a design study designation for an attack helicopter that eventually evolved into the single seat Kamov Ka-50 family of aircraft.-Design and development:...
: Prototype version for Ka-50. - Kamov Ka-50 : Single-seat version.
- Kamov Ka-50N : Ka-50 with improved Night attack capability.
- Kamov Ka-50Sh : Ka-50 with improved Night attack capability.
- Kamov Ka-50-2 "Erdogan" version with a two-seat tandem cockpit.
- Kamov Ka-52 "Alligator" version with a two-seat side-by-side cockpit.
Specifications
- Data for Ka-50, differences for Ka-52 noted.
See also
External links
- Kamov page on the Ka-50
- Kamov page on the Ka-52
- Ka-50 page on GlobalSecurity.org
- RIA Novosti: The history of the Ka-50 Black Shark (Part 1), (Part 2), and (Part 3, final) on rian.ru
- Ka-50 Black Shark page on army-technology.com
- Ka-50 Black Shark attack helicopter Video on rian.ru
- Ka-50 walkaround on airforce.ru
- Ka-52 walkaround on ScaleModels.ru
- Ka-50Sh walkaround on ScaleModels.ru
- DCS:Black Shark – high fidelity commercial flight simulator featuring the KA-50