Kamov Ka-50

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"Black Shark" redirects here. For the species of fish, see Kitefin shark.

Ka-50 "Black Shark"
Kamov Ka-50 at MAKS 2005
Type	Attack helicopter
Manufacturer	Kamov company
Status	In Service
Primary user	Russian Army
Number built	16 (As of 2006)
Variants	Kamov Ka-52

The Ka-50 is a Russian single-seat attack helicopter, designed as a gunship. It was designed by the Kamov company starting in the 1980s and adopted for service in the Russian army in 1995. It is manufactured by the Progress company of Arseniev. Its NATO reporting name is Hokum A; the first prototype was nicknamed "Werewolf", however Kamov's official name for the type is "Black Shark". As the Soviet Union's collapse vastly reduced military spending before Ka-50 could go into full-scale production, a relatively small number of these aircraft have been built, even though it beat Mil's rival Mi-28 "Havoc" in virtually all the tests in the contest for the Red Army's next attack helicopter. Reportedly Ka-50's development took place in record time, as Kamov had the forethought of placing liaison engineers at major component suppliers and systems subcontractors. Finally, Ka-50 and its modifications have been chosen as the special forces support helicopter while Mi-28 has become main army's gunship. The production of Ka-50 has been recommenced in 2006.

It is the only helicopter in the world to achieve the following pedigree:

• World's first and only single seat attack helicopter
• World's first co-axial attack helicopter*
• World's first attack helicopter with zero-zero ejection seat*

*The only other attack helicopter with such characteristics is the twin-seat Ka-52

Contents 1 Design 2 Weapons 3 Ka-50-2 Erdogan 4 Operators 5 Specifications (Ka-50) 6 External links 7 Related content

[edit] Design

The Hokum was designed to be small, fast, and agile to improve survivability and lethality. For minimal weight and size (thus maximal 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 don't simultaneously demand navigation, maneuvering, and weapons operation of the pilot; and thus with well-designed support automation a single pilot can indeed carry out the entire mission alone. However, it is still an unanswered question whether in practice the rank and file of Black Shark pilots would nevertheless suffer from excess fatigue from this combined workload.

Like other Kamov's 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” where the aircraft maintains a line-of-sight to target while flying circles of varying altitude, elevation, and airspeed around it. The elimination of the tail rotor is a qualitative advantage because the torque-countering tail rotor can waste up to 30% of engine power. (To begin with, Black Shark's Klimovs offer more shaft horsepower, some 2200 shp apiece, than e.g. Apache's General Electric turboshafts, at 1890 shp, which contributes to the superb performance.) Furthermore, the vulnerable boom and rear gearbox are fairly common causes of helicopter losses in combat (as proven in Vietnam); the Black Shark's entire transmission presents a comparatively small target to ground fire. Kamov maintains that the co-axial drive assembly is built to survive hits from 23mm ammunition like the other vital parts of the helicopter. The zero native torque also allows the aircraft to be fairly immune to wind strength and direction, and to have an unsurpassed turn rate in all travel speed envelopes.

In January 2001, the Ka-50 saw its first combat operation, as it fired on enemy positions in Chechnya. Later, it would undertake several missions inside that war zone, although not as much as the more numerous Mil Mi-24 perhaps better suited to the more guerrilla-type warfare there.

The Ka-50 was the first helicopter fitted with an ejector seat for improved pilot survivability; this was also seen as a psychological factor enhancing the pilot's combat courage. Before the rocket in the K-37-800 ejection seat kicks in, rotor blades are blown away by explosive charges in the rotor disc and the canopy is similarly jettisoned.

There is also a twin seat version designated Kamov Ka-52 or "Alligator" . Rumour has it this was partly designed for special operations and airborne command use, but partly as a consequence of buyer suspicion toward Kamov's single-pilot concept.

[edit] Weapons

The machine carries a substantial load of weapons in four external hardpoints under the stub wings plus two on the wingtips, a total of some 2,300 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 movement 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 also can input target information from ground-based forward scouts with man-portable target designation gear. The integrated 30mm cannon is semi-rigidly fixed on the helicopter's side, movable only slightly in elevation and azimuth. The aircraft's agility allows the weapon control system to turn (the entire helicopter and) the cannon at the target acquired in the pilot's helmet sight about as fast as the cannon turret of the Apache or the Mil-28 turns. The semi-rigid mounting improves the cannon's accuracy, giving the 30mm a longer practical range and better hit ratio at medium ranges than with a free-turning turret mount.

[edit] Ka-50-2 Erdogan

In 1997, Israeli Air Industries (IAI) in cooperation with the Kamov bureau entered a Turkish design competition for a $4 billion contract for 145 (later changed to 50) combat helicopters. The helicopter designed for the competition became the Ka-50-2 Erdogan, a tandem cockpit twin-seater variant of the Ka-50 that featured a modern, Israeli-made "glass cockpit" avionics and a turret-mounted side-folding (for landing clearance) 30mm cannon as opposed to the fixed cannon of the Ka-50. (A similar Italian turret is also offered as a modification to the Ka-50.) The Erdogan beat out the Eurocopter and Apache helicopters, but lost to the venerable AH-1 Cobra, which would suggest that the Cobra was picked for cost and reliability reasons as well as political reasons being partially Israeli made and in a Turkish competition.^{[citation needed]} The combination of a Russian combat helicopter with Western avionics would have been a formidable foe.^{[citation needed]} Kamov is still looking for a buyer, since the Russian military doesn't have the funding.

[edit] Operators

•  Russia
  • Russian Air Force - 16 in service

[edit] Specifications (Ka-50)

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 13.50 m (44 ft 3 in)
• Rotor diameter: 2x 14.50 m (2x 47 ft 7 in)
• Height: 5.4 m (17 ft 9 in)
• Disc area: 330.3 m² (3,555 ft²)
• Empty weight: 7,800 kg (17,200 lb)
• Loaded weight: 9,800 kg (21,600 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 10,400 kg (22,930 lb)
• Powerplant: 2× Klimov TV3-117VK turboshafts, 1,660 kW (2,226 shp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 350 km/h (189 knots, 217 mph)
• Cruise speed: 270 km/h (146 knots, 168 mph)
• Range: 1,160 km (720 miles)
• Service ceiling: 5,500 m (18,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 10 m/s (1,970 ft/min)
• Disc loading: 30 kg/m² (6 lb/ft²)
• Power/mass: 0.33 kW/kg (0.20 hp/lb)

Armament

• 1x 30 mm Shipunov 2A42 cannon
• A variety of payloads including 23-mm gun pods (240 rounds each), 12xAT-16 VIKhR ATGM, Vympel R-73 (NATO: AA-11 Archer), S-8 rocket pods, S-13 rocket pods, High caliber missiles, 4x 500 kg (1,100 lb) bombs, 500 l (130 US gal) external fuel tanks

[edit] External links

• Kamov page on the Ka-50
• Kamov page on the Ka-52
• Defence-Aerospace.com article describing the Ka-50-2's flight trials
• FAS page on the Ka-50
• Kamov Ka-50 Flight Video at YouTube
• RIA Novosti: The history of the Ka-50 Black Shark (Part1)
• RIA Novosti: The history of the Ka-50 Black Shark (Part2)
• RIA Novosti: The history of the Ka-50 Black Shark (Final Part)

[edit] Related content

Related development

• Kamov Ka-52
• Kamov Ka-25
• Kamov Ka-27

Comparable aircraft

• Mil Mi-28
• AH-64 Apache
• Eurocopter Tiger