a beautiful “predator” – attack helicopter Ka-52. This heavy vehicle moves so gracefully that it seems to be dancing in the air…
Development of the two-seater version of
the basic one-seater model Ka-50 began in 1994. In December 2010 Ka-52
“Alligator” was put into service.
First four vehicles were used for
training instructors who would teach pilots of combatant forces. Eight
units more were sent to the Far East of Russia. In October 2011 the Far
Eastern squadron had twelve units of helicopters.
Ka-52 is the only attack helicopter in
the world with “side by side” crew accomodation. It was made by
summarizing the practice of pilots who had huge experience on Mi-8
(“side by side”) and Mi-24 (tandem accomodation) helicopters.
The curved side glazing of the Ka-52 cockpit withstands 12,7 mm bullets, side armor plates provide additional protection.
Pilots of Ka-52 have five color LED
displays on the dashboard and one screen of a smaller size placed
between the legs of the first pilot.
According to S. Mikheev compared to
Ka-50, helicopter Ka-52 may apply much more wider range of arms. It has
four main points of suspension.
In comparison to the original Ka-50, it
has a “softer” nose profile and a radar system with two antennas—
mast-mounted for aerial targets and nose-mounted for ground targets.
“Samshit” day-and-night TV/thermal sighting system in two spherical
turrets (one over the cockpit and the second under the nose) are also
present. The Ka-52 retains the side-mounted cannon and six wing-mounted
hardpoints of the original Ka-50.In order to keep the weight and
performance on par with that of the Ka-50, some trade-offs were
introduced to the design; the scale of the armour plating and the
capacity of the cannon magazine/feed have been reduced.
In 2011 there were made twelve helicopters of Ka-52, in 2013 they plan to make up to fifteen units.
People often think that Ka-52 somehow
compete with Mi-28 but it’s far from truth, these vehicles have
different tasks, they can perfectly work together and support each
other.