In the 1980s the Soviet Kamov design bureau, well-known for its coaxial-rotor naval helicopters, began development of a single-seat coaxial-rotor helicopter gunship — which emerged as the

In the mid-1960s, the Kamov helicopter experimental design bureau (OKB in its Russian acronym) had designed a gunship version of the Ka-25 coaxial-rotor naval helicopter, the “Ka-25F” — but it was rejected, the authorities selecting the Mil Mi-24 “Hind” gunship for production instead.

Although the Mi-24 gunship proved a great success in service with the Red Army and Soviet allies, it wasn’t long after its introduction that the brass began to wonder if it was really the right tool for the job. The Mi-24 was a large machine, capable in principle of carrying a squad of infantry that could provide a ground combat capability to back up the machine’s air combat capability. It didn’t work out that way: it rarely carried infantry except in a pinch, and its large size cut into performance.

In 1972, the US began the “Advanced Attack Helicopter” program, which would ultimately result in the AH-64 Apache helicopter gunship. The Soviets felt obligated to respond in kind, and so in 1976 the authorities initiated work on their own advanced attack helicopter, focused on the anti-armor mission. Mil and Kamov, the two Soviet helicopter design bureaus, both submitted proposals. The Mil proposal would emerge as the “Mi-28 Havoc”, which is discussed elsewhere; the Kamov proposal was the “V-80”, to be designed by a team under Sergei Mikhelev. Two prototypes of each were ordered in 1980. The initial V-80 prototype, built at the Kamov plant in Moscow, performed its initial flight on 17 June 1982, with Nikolai Bezdetnov at the control. The second performed its first flight in August 1983.

V-80.01

V-80.02

The first V-80 prototype was lost in a crash on 3 April 1985, pilot Yevgeny Laryushkin being killed. The V-80 featured the coaxial rotor system traditionally associated with Kamov helicopters; investigation showed that the rotor blades had collided with each other in the course of maneuvers, with the spacing between the rotor systems increased as a result. A third prototype followed before the end of 1985. Initial evaluation was complete by the summer of 1986, with the V-80 being favored over the Mi-28. There was room for improvement, with the appropriate recommendations made, and the V-80 was ordered into production in late 1987, to be made at the state plant in Arseneyev. The Mi-28 still being seen as promising, its development was continued.

V-80.03

V-80.04

V-80.05

Two more V-80 helicopters were built, the fifth machine being close to expected production configuration. Further trials were performed into 1990 with the four surviving prototypes, an initial batch of production machines being ordered in that year, being given the service designation of “Ka-50”. Production was to be at the Progress Aircraft Plant in Arseneyev. The Ka-50 was authorized for fielding with the Russian Army in 1995; however, by that time it was apparent the collapse of the Soviet Union had largely sidelined the program. Source airvectors.net

The Ka-50 Black Shark helicopter, developed by Kamov Helicopters JSC, carries the Nato codename Hokum A, with Hokum B the two-seat version, Ka-52. Ka-50 is also known as Werewolf. It is a high-performance combat helicopter with day and night capability, high survivability and fire power to defeat air targets and heavily armoured tanks armed with air defence weapons. It entered service with the Russian Army during 1995 and is manufactured at the Sazykin Aviation Company Progress based in Arseniev Maritime Territory, Russia.

A first batch of eight Ka-50 aircraft has been delivered. 12 Ka-52 were to be procured for Russian Air Force special operations in 2005, but funding for the programme was cut from the 2005 budget. As of late 2008, the Russian Air Force operated 15 Ka-50 and ten Ka-52 helicopters

A night attack version, Ka-50N, with Samshit-50T thermal imager, day TV and laser rangefinder has been developed, and Kamov has also joined with Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) to produce a version, the Ka-50-2 Erdogan that is compatible with Nato weapons and has an Israeli equipped cockpit.

Ka-50 attack helicopter design

The coaxial rotor design provides a hovering ceiling of 4,000m and vertical rate of climb of 10m a second at an altitude of 2,500m. The rotor blades are made from polymer materials. The coaxial-rotor configuration results in moments of inertia values relative to vertical and lateral axes between 1.5 to two times less than the values found in single-rotor helicopters with tail rotors. Absence of the tail rotor enables the helicopter to perform flat turns within the entire flight speed range. A maximum vertical g-load of 3.5 combined with low moments of inertia give the Ka-50 a high level of agility.

Extensive all-round armour installed in the cockpit protects the pilot against 12.7mm armour-piercing bullets and 23mm projectile fragments. The rotor blades are rated to withstand several hits of ground-based automatic weapons.

The Ka-50 is the world’s first operational helicopter with a rescue ejection system, which allows the pilot to escape at all altitudes and speeds. The K-37-800 rocket-assisted ejection system is manufactured by the Zvezda Research and Production Enterprise Joint Stock Company in the Moscow region.

Ka-50 Black Shark orders

A request for proposal (RFP) to buy 22 attack helicopters was issued by the Indian Defence Ministry on 30 May 2008 as part of the $550m contract. The request determnined the attack helicopter should encompass weapons to boost the Indian Air Force’s surveillance and combat capabilities.

The air force also required that the helicopter would weigh 2,500kg or more when empty and have two engines. It should encompass a modern anti-armour capability along with a turret gun of 20mm or higher calibre and be able to fire 70mm rockets a range of 1.2km. The helicopter should be capable of working in all weather, day and night, and in desert and mountaineous regions.

The second RFP was issued in June 2009, stating that around 384 additional light helicopters were cleared for purchase. The $2bn order was for the Indian Air Force and Army, of which 125 would be for the air force and 259 for the army.

Weapons

A combination of various armaments to a maximum weapon load of 2t can be selected according to the mission, including anti-tank missiles, unguided aerial rockets of different calibres, air-to-air missiles, guns, bombs and other weapons.

The helicopter has small mid-mounted wings, fitted with four underwing suspension units and wingtip countermeasures pods. Up to 12 Vikhr supersonic anti-tank missiles can be mounted on the helicopter’s two underwing external stores. The laser beam-riding Vikhr missile is stated as having a target hit probability close to one, against a tank at a range of up to 8km, and the capability of penetrating all types of armour, including active armour up to 900mm thick.

The Ka-50 is armed with a 2A42 quick-firing 30mm gun, which has an unrestricted azimuth and elevation range mounting for use against airborne or ground targets. The gun is equipped with 460 rounds of ammunition: two types being carried, high-fragmentation and explosive incendiary rounds and armour-piercing rounds. The pilot selects the type of ammunition in flight. The weight of the ammunition is 0.39kg each round, the muzzle velocity is 980m/s and the range is up to 4km. The gun provides an angular firing accuracy of two to 4 mrad.

2A42 30mm gun

Vikhr missile

The 9A4172 Vikhr is a Russian long-range anti-tank guided missile. It is known in the West as the AT-16 or Scallion. It was developed in the Soviet Union during the 1980s. At the time Soviets needed a new missiles, to replace the 9K114 Shturm (Western reporting name AT-6 or Spiral) system, that could penetrate contemporary Western main battle tanks with composite and explosive reactive armor, such as the American M1 Abrams, German Leopard 2, and British Challenger. Prototypes were tested by the Soviet armed forces in 1989. First production missiles were delivered in 1992. During the same year the Vikhr was first publicly revealed. Since its introduction sales of the Vikhr missile have been slow, partly because Russia also uses Ataka missile, developed by another manufacturer, which is similar in function, but uses different guidance. In 2013 Russian MoD ordered over 6 000 Vikhr-1 missiles in order to prevent the manufacturer from going bankrupt. Delivery of these missiles commenced in 2015 and was completed in 2016. The Vikhr has been exported to Egypt, and possibly some countries. Source military-today.com

The anti-tank missile system 9K121 “Vikhr” includes:

• supersonic, ACLOS8 anti-tank missile 9A4172;
• automatic sight I-251 “Skval”9 (Ka-50), I-251 “Skval-M” (Su-25T) working both by day and night;
• aviation moveable 10 launcher APU 11-8 (Su-25T with 8 missiles) or APU-6 (Ka-50/52 6 missiles).

The system allows to launch single missile and two missiles volley. Supersonic speed missile (up to 610 m/s) reduces the operating time of the helicopter allowing for one entering to hit more targets. The missile system is designed to destroy non-armoured, semi-armoured and armoured ground targets, including reactive armoured targets and low-speed air targets, which fly at a speed up to 800 km/h.

The missile guidance system is Line-Of-Sight Beam Riding Guidance (LOSBR) and it uses a
“beam” of laser, which is pointed at the target. I think this beam riding system is Automatic Command to Line-Of-Sight (ACLOS). LOSBR suffers from the inherent weakness of inaccuracy with increasing range as the beam spreads out. Laser beam riders are more accurate in this regard, but are all short-range, and even the laser can be degraded by bad weather conditions.

The automatic sight is provided with TV (daylight) and IR (night) channels for target sighting. Missile control and target tracing are automatic and the automatic sight is provided with a laser beam channel for missile control, a laser range-finder and with an automatic target tracking unit. The automatic sight completes target detection and identifies that by day and night. After tracking the target automatically it generates exact information for missile launching or gun firing.

The multi-purpose warhead consists of a high explosive anti-tank tandem-charge and an
additional fragmentation sleeve with proximity and contact (impact) fuse. The warhead allows the missile to be used against armoured, semi-armoured and non-armoured targets alike, for example tanks, vehicles, airborne and other area targets.

The target hit probability is reported to be about 0.95 against stationary targets and 0.8 against moving targets. That is provided by the automatic target tracking system and the highly accurate missile control system that makes allowance for changes in the parameters of the carrier and the target in the course of firing. Source repulestudomany.hu

Cockpit

Double-wall steel armoured cockpit, able to protect pilot from hits by 20 and 23mm gunfire over ranges as close as 100m. Interior black-painted for use with NVGs. Specially designed Zvezda K-37-800 ejection system, ostensibly for safe ejection at any altitude (actually from 100m); following explosive separation of rotor blades and opening of cockpit roof, pilot is extracted from cockpit by large rocket; alternatively, he can jettison doors and stores before rolling out of cockpit sideways. Associated equipment includes automatic radio beacon, activated during ejection, inflatable liferaft and NAZ 7M survival kit. Source aviastar.org

Zvezda K-37-800 ejection system

The К-37-800М system consists of two parts: a seat and an onboard part. The system is designed to serve as a working station for Ка-50 and Ка-52 helicopter pilot and provide (in complete with the ZSH-7ВS crash helmet and the ККО-VК-LP oxygen equipment) safe emergency escape by ejection with the use of the towing rocket motor at an equivalent air speed from 90 to 350 km/h in the range of altitudes from 0 to 5000 m; moreover, the system reduces the G-loads the pilot is exposed to at emergency landing by the seat’s shock-absorbing suspension.

At simultaneous ejection from two-seat air vehicles, the trajectories of the pilots and their parachutes may be diverged.

The ejection & shock-absorbing system is produced in several versions.

The К-37-800М ejection & shock-absorbing system features:

• comfortable cockpit accommodation and a reliable crewmember restraint system;
• safe emergency escape from the air vehicle by ejection;
• reduction of emergency landing impact G-loads to the values a human being can withstand by the way of shock-absorption.

There are no analogues of this system.

Specifications:

• Ejection speed range: from 90 to 350 km/h;
• Ejection altitude range: from 0 to 5000 m;
• Total mass of the pilot gear: from 6.5 to 12.8 kg;
• Allowable pilot parameters:
  • weight:  from 57.0 to 91.4 kg;
  • sitting stature: from 810 to 980 mm;

• Mass of the seat loaded with pyrocharges: no more than 57.25 kg.

Source zvezda-npp.ru

Avionics

Flight systems include inertial navigation system (INS), autopilot and head-up display (HUD). Sensors include forward-looking infrared (FLIR) and terrain-following radar.

AVIONICS: Integrated by NPO Elektro Avtomatika.

Comms: Two R800L1 and one R-868 UHF transceivers. SPU-9 intercom, P-503B headset recorder, Almaz-UP-48 voice warning system and HF com/nav; IFF (‘Slap Shot’).
Flight: INS; autopilot; Doppler box under tailboom; ARK-22 radio compass; A-036A radio altimeter.

Instrumentation: Conventional instruments; ILS-31 HUD; moving map display (Kronshtadt Abris on some aircraft); small IT-23MV CRT beneath HUD, with rubber hood, to display only FLIR and monochrome LLLTV imagery. Pilot has Obzor-800 helmet sight effective within �60� azimuth and from -20 to +45� elevation; when pilot has target centred on HUD, he pushes button to lock sighting and four-channel digital autopilot into one unit. Displays compatible with OVN-1 Skosok NVGs.

Mission: To reduce pilot workload and introduce a degree of low observability, target location and designation are assigned to other aircraft; equipment behind windows in nose includes I-25IV Shkval-V daylight electro-optical search and auto-tracking system, laser marked target seeker and range-finder; FOV �35� in azimuth +15 to -80� in elevation. FLIR turret to be added in nose for use with NVGs.  Source aviastar.org

Countermeasures

The Ka-50 is fitted with a radar warning receiver, electronic warfare system and chaff and flare dispenser.

L150 Pastel RWR

Self-defence: L150 Pastel RWR in tailcone, at rear of each wingtip EW pod and under nose; total of 512 chaff/ flare cartridges (in four UV-26 dispensers) in each wingtip pod. L-140 Otklik laser detection system; L-136 Mak IR warning. Source aviastar.org

Scans from 1.2-18GHz threat frequencies.
Accuracy is 3-5° with pinpoint location antenna, 10° in rough location antenna. 128 reprogrammable radar types. Detection range minimum of 120% of the radar’s range. 3 modes- operational target, programmed target, most dangerous target.
Detects and finds direction for pulse, pulse-doppler and CW mode radars in search, track and illumination modes. Classifies multiple threats by danger, with full display of all information about most threatening radar presented to crew. Controls EW systems, has the ability to control and assign targets to 6 anti-radiation missiles such as the Kh-31. Aural warnings for high threat situations.
Pastel may be made available for upgrade packages or built into new export models of the Mig-29 and Su-27 families. Source aerospace.boopidoo.com

General data:
Type: ESM Altitude Max: 0 m Range Max: 222.2 km Altitude Min: 0 m Range Min: 0 km Generation: Early 1990s

Sensors / EW: SPO-32 Pastel [L-150] – ESM
Role: RWR, Radar Warning Receiver
Max Range: 222.2 km

Source forums.eagle.ru

Engines

The Ka-50 is powered by two TV3-117VMA turboshafts engines, each providing 2,200hp (1,660kW). The engines are placed on either side of the fuselage to enhance the combat survivability. The helicopter also has an auxiliary power unit (APU) for self-contained operation.

2 x TV3-117VMA turboshafts engines

Engine	TV3-117VMA
2.5- minute power rating, with one engine inoperative (OEI) (SLS, ISA):
Power, shp (kW)	2400 (1765)
30- minute power rating, with one engine inoperative (OEI) (SLS, ISA):
Power, shp (kW)	2200 (1618)
Specific fuel consumption, kg/hp•h (kg/kW•h)	0.210 (0.286)
Cruise power condition (SLS, ISA):
Power, shp (kW)	1500 (1103)
Dry weight, kg	294

Source motorsich.com

SYSTEMS: All systems configured for operational deployment away from base for up to 12 days without need for maintenance ground equipment; refuelling, avionics and weapon servicing performed from ground level. AI-9V APU for engine starting, and ground supply of hydraulic and electrical power, in top of centre-fuselage. Anti-icing system for engine air intakes, rotors, AoA and yaw sensors; de-icing of windscreen and canopy by liquid spray. Source aviastar.org

Performance

The Ka-50 attack helicopter can climb at a rate of 16m/s. It can fly at a maximum speed of 390km/h. The maximum range and service ceiling of the helicopter are 1,180km and 5,500m respectively. It can fly at a cruise speed of 270km/h. The combat radius and disc loading of the helicopter are 460km and 30kg/m² respectively. The endurance of the helicopter is three hours. The helicopter weighs around 7,800kg and the maximum take-off weight is 10,800kg.

Specification

TTD:
Ø supporting rotors:	14.45 m
Wingspan:	7.34 m
Total length :	15.96 m
Length of hull:	14,43 m
Height:	4.93 m
Empty weight:	7 692 kg
Max. takeoff weight:	10,800 kg
Max. speed:	340 km / h
Practical access:	5 500 m
Max. range without / s PTB:	455/1 160 km

Source ruslet.webnode.cz

Main material source army-technology.com

Images are from public domain unless otherwise stated

Main image richard-seaman.com

Revised Aug 13, 2019

Updated April 24, 2020