The machine carries a handsome 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. 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 turbofans, 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.

It was designed to be small, fast, and agile to improve survivability and lethality. In common with many other Soviet aircraft of the era, it is believed to have superior flight characteristics but inferior avionics to its Western counterparts -- the AH-64 Apache and Eurocopter Tiger in particular. While its avionics are not as sophisticated as in typical Western helicopters, they work efficiently and are simple to maintain in field conditions. 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.

The main armament are the twelve laser-guided VIKhR anti-tank missiles with a maximum range of some 8 km (5 miles). 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.

In January 2001, the Ka-50 saw its first combat operation, as it fired on terrorist 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 a consequence of buyer suspicion toward Kamov's single-pilot concept.

Ka-50-2 Erdogan

Specifications (Ka-50)

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

Related content

Helicopters | Soviet attack aircraft 1980-1989

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