Kamov Ka-50 Black Shark (Hokum)

History

The Kamov Ka-50 Chernaya Akula (or "Black Shark", NATO codename "Hokum") attack helicopter family was developed during the last years of the Cold War and entered service with the Russian Armed Forces only in 1995. It offers a number of interesting and unique design elements for this class of weapons, and due to the inherent capabilities of the unique design, it appears - on paper at least - to be comparable to all other modern attack helicopters and ground armour. The need for a new Russian attack helicopter developed after hard-won lessons from the Soviet-Afghan conflict

Development of the Ka-50 began in 1977 with the production of the V-80 prototype. The V-80 first flew on July 27, 1982, and evolved into the pre-production V-80Sh-1. The Ka-50 won a competitive trial with the Mil Mi-28 Havoc, a traditional two-seater attack helicopter, and was selected ahead of Mil production in 1986. Funding delayed production for a while and a re-try in 1994 didn't make the Ka-50 program any better -- in 2000, the Mi-28 was also selected for service.

The Ka-50 entered service in 1995, and about 32 prototypes were produced. By contrast, the Mi-28 entered service in 1996 and initially went into limited production for the Russian Air Force, while Kenya joined the fray as an export customer (the Iraqi Air Force could be its next foreign operator).

With both attack types officially selected for quantitative procurement, Russian doctrine has grown to include both platforms in future plans. As such, the Ka-50/Ka-52 will focus more on patrolling the vast Russian frontier border areas, while the Mi-28 will be deployed in areas west of the Ural Mountains.

Black Shark Tour

From a design standpoint, the Ka-50 is unconventional. The cockpit is located at the front of the fuselage, and the engines are located behind and on the sides of the cockpit. The wings are mounted directly under these engines and feature four mounts for various weapon options. Flaps on the wingtips are visible, capturing the aircraft's defensive missile defense systems in the form of chaff and flare dispensers. Armor insulates all major components, systems and pilots from weapon calibers up to 20mm and 23mm.

An infrared-suppressed exhaust system and self-sealing fuel tanks help the Black Shark survive on the modern battlefield, an important consideration when this type of aircraft needs to operate at low altitudes in hot zones. The engines are mounted high on the fuselage to keep the helicopter's critical propulsion system as far away from enemy ground fire as possible. The landing gear - which consists of a three-wheeled landing gear system - is fully retractable, giving it a "low-to-the-ground" appearance when the helicopter is stationary.

The structure of the Ka-50 consists of more than 35% composite material.

The most distinctive feature of the Kamov Ka-50 is what bears the Kamov brand logo - two counter-rotating coaxial main rotors. With this arrangement, the Ka-50 eliminates the need for a tail rotor arrangement to balance the power of the main rotor itself, which is common on most other helicopters.

In the Black Shark's case, a pair of counter-rotating main rotors (i.e. each main rotor rotates in opposite directions) balance out the torque effects, resulting in a stable and relatively responsive platform. It is an accepted fact that on any modern helicopter, the loss of the tail rotor assembly in most cases means some kind of demise of the system and crew.

The Ka-50 uses its main rotor assembly to eliminate the possibility of a Black Shark being lost by a direct tail strike. As a result, combat survivability is greatly improved, but at the cost of a more complex build.

Combat factors aside, the omission of the tail rotor assembly directly increases the overall top speed, making it one of the fastest - if not the fastest - combat helicopters in service. With the power of two Klimov TV3-117VK turboshaft engines, each producing 2,226 hp, none of this power needs to be transferred to the tail rotor assembly, but can be optimized to the twin centrally located main rotors.

Performance specs include a top speed of 242 mph (168 cruising speed), a range of 720 miles, a service ceiling of up to 18,000 feet and a rate of climb of nearly 1,870 feet per minute.

Another striking design element of the Ka-50 is the use of a single crew member to control all of the Black Shark's available systems. While most modern attack helicopters employ dedicated pilots and gunners to share combat-related duties, the Ka-50 provides pilots with a full suite of automated systems to keep birds in the air and actively hunting.

Given the focus on this unique aspect of the Black Shark's design, it remains to be seen whether this arrangement is actually feasible given the number of instruments and systems that pilots must monitor and respond to during a given mission - especially in the heat of combat conditions . In any case, being limited to one crew member means the design also sheds weight that can be redistributed to more important Ka-50 components, including armor and weapons.

The Ka-50's battlefield survivability received another major boost with the ejection system in the K-37 ejection seat. While fairly rare in today's attack helicopters, the Black Shark has a complex but life-saving procedure that could potentially save a pilot's life. The system ejection process begins with the ejection of the two main rotors through controlled explosives, and a moment later the pilot ejects.

This alone sets the Black Shark apart from any other attack helicopter in the category and adds another thoughtful element to the survival design philosophy.

Weapon Pack

As with any attack helicopter, weapons are the real heart of the design. Available munitions include the latest Russian anti-tank air-to-surface missiles and anti-aircraft air-to-air missiles, mounted on four external mounting points with short port and starboard wings. The Ka-50's primary weapon in the anti-tank fighter role is the AT-16 Vikhr-M tube-launched air-to-surface anti-tank laser-guided missile system.

The missile has a range of up to 5 miles, is penetrating and can reach speeds of Mach 1. 8. The Ka-50 and its two variants, the Ka-52 and Su-25T "Frogfoot", are approved for use with missile systems. Additionally, the Ka-50 is said to carry conventional gunship weapons, including ammunition-dispersing rocket pods with various types of warheads.

The Black Shark can also carry external fuel tanks for longer range, cannon pods, and drop bombs if desired.

The basic armament of the Ka-50 series is a 30mm Shipunov 2A42 cannon, which fires Armor-Piercing (AP) or High Explosive Fragmentation (HE-FRAG) rounds. While conventional gunships mount their guns on a separate, fully traversable power mount under the chin of the fuselage, the Black Shark's guns are mounted on the starboard side of the fuselage, just behind and below the cockpit. This provides some design advantages as the weapon system is placed closer to the helicopter's center of gravity for optimal balance.

Semi-rigid units produce less recoil and provide more accurate weapon delivery. An obvious disadvantage of this layout is that the entire helicopter must be turned to the target, but the integration with the helicopter's weapons system reportedly allows for reaction times as short as the Hughes Apache system's chin-mounted 30mm chain gun.

Production

After evaluation, the Ka-50 was selected for service with the Russian Air Force, while the Mil Mi-28 was selected a few years later - both initially facing limited production runs. Combining a substantial amount of armor protection, survivability, firepower and capability compared to its competitors, the system was destined to become a major player in the Cold War world.

With the fall of the Soviet Empire, the future of the Ka-50 was in jeopardy until a revival of military funding brought the Ka-50 production line back to full operation. Although only about 30 prototypes have been produced in total so far, it is believed that the Ka-50 will remain the backbone of Russian attack helicopter weapons for the foreseeable future (as it started with the Mi-28 production).

Variations

The Ka-50 appears in a growing number of variants and development derivatives that attempt to reinforce the limitations of the original design. V-80 represents the prototype designation for the prototype, followed by two V-80Sh-1 "Shturmovik-1" pre-production models. The night-capable Ka-50 came in the form of the Ka-50N and Ka-50Sh variants with FLIR and electro-optical sights mounted on Russian or French avionics. The Ka-50-2 is intended to represent three proposed exports based on the Ka-52 "Crocodile".

The Ka-50-2 "Erdogan" competes for Turkish sales and represents a joint attempt by Kamov and Israel to integrate Israeli avionics and a "glass" cockpit into a two-seat tandem cockpit. Erdogan ultimately lost to Bell Helicopter-Textron AH-1Z King Cobra.

The Ka-52K is the Navy version of the Ka-52 in development, complete with a folding main rotor head, anti-corrosion coating and various other naval friendly accessories to help the helicopter operate over the unforgiving seas. These will likely be based on the French Mistral-class ships to be procured by the Russian Navy, with deliveries expected to begin in 2014.

Ka-52 Crocodile

The Ka-52 "Crocodile" is an improved design of the Ka-50 with a two-seat side-by-side cockpit arrangement and is classified as an all-weather, day/night attack system. The Ka-52 was developed in 1994 with a redesigned forward fuselage to accommodate a wider two-seater cockpit and a radome located under the new nose cone, although it retained 85% of the Ka-50's fuselage. This new addition helps the Ka-52 track targets and assign them to supporting Ka-50 units. Other external features of this type include a pair of day/night FLIRs with turrets and TV sighting systems - one under the nose and one above the cockpit - Thales based avionics, helmet mounted sights , infrared sensors, laser rangefinders and a mast radar antenna.

Despite the addition of radar, the addition of a second crew member and a brand new name, the Ka-52 retains all the weapons capabilities and explosive lethality of the Ka-50 base. The first flight of the alligator took place on June 25, 1997.

Lie to me once. .

It should be noted that the Ka-50 originally "painted" a second cockpit on the fuselage in an attempt to deceive Western observers. This worked because Western reports said the Ka-50 had a two-seat tandem cockpit design, with the pilot sitting in the back row, high above the front row of gunners.

Although a two-seat version of the Ka-50 eventually debuted, it featured side-by-side seats.

First blood

The Ka-50 first engaged in limited combat combat in December 2000, attacking ground forces in Chechnya and proving to be a formidable attack system over rough and forested mountainous terrain.

The future of the Ka-50

Once upon a time, India was considering the quantitative purchase of the Kamov Ka-50 platform and accepted offers such as Mil Mi-28 and Eurocopter Tiger. However, the state officially chose the American Boeing AH-64 Apache Strike Series. Kamov still hopes to sell the Ka-50 to India in the future as the system becomes a more advanced Russian military performer.

The Russian Air Force operates dozens of Ka-50/Ka-52 and Mi-28 Havocs. All further "newly built" Ka-50s are expected to be more powerful Ka-52 variants.

Specification

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Production

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Performance