Article Posted on : - Jan 05, 2010

Russian Kamov Ka-52 "Alligator" helicopter (NATO name: Hokum-B) was exhibited at 1995 Paris Air Show. Its first flight took place on June 25, 1997 and officially it was rolled out on July 1, 1997.

Ka- 52 is a two-seat all-weather day/night combat and training helicopter which is a derivative of attack Ka-50. Ka-50 is a high-performance combat helicopter with day and night capability, high survivability and fire power to defeat air targets and heavily armoured tanks equipped with air defence weapons.

K-52 is moreover similar to single seat K-50. Changes are made in its design for advancement. To place two crew members in a seat, the front fuselage is redesigned; an upward-hinged and bulged gull-wing type transparent canopy door over each seat is added. To improve the field of fire of 2A42 gun, the bottom of the nose is recessed on starboard side. Some cockpit armour and number of rounds for the cannon have been omitted to compensate for increased weight.

The helicopter power plant contains two up-rated 1,863kW Klimov TV3-117VMA-SB3 turbo-shafts and two 1,633kW TV3-117VMA turbo-shafts in prototype. Zvezda K-37-800 ejection system is used for operating weapons. Full dual control standards including two colour and two monochrome SMD 66 multifunction displays.

Standard ‘Ka-52’ armament comprises two UPP-800 clusters on inner under wing hard points, each equipped with six laser-guided Vikhr anti-tank missiles with a range of 8 to 10km, two B8V-20 rocket launchers on the outer hard points, each with 20 S-8 80mm air-to-surface rockets; 30mm fixed 2A42 gun on starboard side of fuselage. New Vikhr-M anti-tank missile with a range of 12 to 15km will be fitted to production aircraft. ‘Igla-V’ AAMs are carried for air-to-air defence.

Specifications:

Crew: 2

Rotor diameter: 14.50m

Fuselage length: 13.53m

Height: 4.95m

Engine power: 2,200h.p.

Take-off weight: 10,800kg

Max speed: 300km/h

Hovering ceiling, OGE: 3600m

Normal range: 520km

Range with max fuel: 1200km

Movable gun model: 2A42

Gun ammunition: 460 rounds

Armament: 1 x 30mm cannon, 12 "Vikhr" anti-tank weapons

No. of Rockets: 80mm caliber: 80
                            122mm caliber: 10

-Courtesy:
        Global Security Website