In November 2012 the Russian MoD announced its intention to test the Ka-52 in actual combat against Somalian pirates. To this end a number of Ka-52s are to be redeployed to the French base in Djibouti (by sea or by air if the runway at Djibouti-Ambouli AB can handle Antonov An-124 Ruslan transports). According to a source in the Russian MoD, the decision to use the Alligator for these operations was prompted by the fact that the Ka-52K is to equip the carrier wing of the Russian Navy’s future Mistral class amphibious assault ships; also, tropical seas are the best proving ground (oops) for shipboard helicopter forces.
The following brief description applies to the production Ka-52.
The fuselage is built in three sections and is made of aluminium alloy and composites. The forward fuselage incorporates the cockpit with side-by-side seating for the pilot (left) and the WSO (right). The cockpit is protected by steel and aluminium armour. It has a fixed windshield (with two optically flat bulletproof windscreen panels and curved sidelights) and two upward-opening glazed sections (with armour plate inserts) hinged to a centreline frame member; the windscreens are made of silicate glass and the rest of the glazing is Plexiglas. An avionics bay ahead of the cockpit houses the radar set and incorporates a ventral ring mount for the surveillance/targeting system turret; the radar antenna is enclosed by a large parabolic glassfibre radome opening to port. The space below the cockpit houses the nose-wheel well.
The centre fuselage of rectangular cross-section with rounded corners is the primary structural assembly of the airframe. It accommodates the main gearbox, the cooling fan, the APU, the fuel tanks, the main-wheel wells, hydraulic system and air conditioning system components. The centre fuselage is flanked by the engine nacelles separated from the surrounding bays by firewalls. A vertically disposed ring mount for the cannon is located ahead of the starboard mainwheel well, with a recess for the cannon barrel ahead of it. The rear fuselage tapering towards the rear incorporates avionics/equipment bays with large lateral access panels and the stabiliser carry-through structure.
The cantilever mid-set stub wings have strong incidence and zero dihedral. They are an all-metal, two-spar stressed-skin structure built in three pieces – a centre section built integrally with the fuselage (terminating outboard of the engine nacelles) and two detachable panels with pronounced taper and no leading-edge sweep. Each outer wing features two external stores pylons; the wingtips carry elliptical IRCM/ESM pods with dorsal and ventral strakes at the rear.
The tail unit comprises a small moderately swept fin with a large sharply swept root fillet (built integrally with the rear fuselage), a large horn-balanced rudder with a fixed trim tab, and shoulder-mounted fixed-incidence cantilever stabilisers; the latter have upturned trailing-edge portions and hexagonal endplates. The fin and the stabiliser carry-through structure are of metal construction; the rudder and the detachable stabiliser panels-cum-endplates are made of carbonfibre reinforced plastic.
The hydraulically-retractable tricycle landing gear comprises a castoring levered-suspension nose unit with twin 400x150 mm (15.74x5.90 in) non-braking wheels and a shimmy damper and main units with single 700x250 mm (27.55x9.84 in) wheels and hydraulic brakes. Wheel track 2.67 m (8 ft 9
in), wheelbase 4.611 m (15 ft 1
in). Steering on the ground is by differential braking. All units retract aft; the nose unit is semi-exposed when retracted, the main-wheels stow vertically flush with the fuselage sides, the outer faces remaining exposed, while the oleos are closed by tandem doors opening only when the gear is in transit. All three units feature ground resonance dampers.
The powerplant comprises two Klimov VK-2500 turboshafts with a 2,400-shp maximum take-off rating and a 2,700-shp contingency rating. Starting is by means of an air starter using compressed air from an Ivchenko AI-9V APU installed transversely aft of the main gearbox, with the exhaust on the starboard side. The engine cowlings incorporate armour plating and double as maintenance platforms. The air intakes are fitted with vortex-type dust filters. The engine exhausts can be fitted with exhaust/air mixers angled outwards. The fire suppression system caters for the engines, APU, main gearbox and cooling fan; the first shot is discharged automatically.
Engine torque is fed via bevel gearboxes into the VR-80 main gearbox which conveys torque to the rotors, the accessories gearbox and the oil cooler fan. The rotor system comprises two co-axial three-blade rotors mounted on a tall rotor mast; the upper rotor turns clockwise and the lower one anticlockwise when seen from above. The rotors have hingeless torsion-bar hubs; the constant-chord blades have raked tips and are of composite construction.
The fuel system features two self-sealing bag-type tanks acting as service tanks (the front tank feeds the port engine, the rear one feeds the starboard engine and APU), with automatic cross-feed and pumping. The fuel tanks are filled with explosion-suppression polyurethane foam. The internal fuel load is 1,487 kg (3,278 lb). All four wing pylons are plumbed for carrying 500-litre (110 Imp. gal) drop tanks, the port ones being connected to the rear tank and the starboard ones to the front tank.
The Ka-52 has conventional mechanical flight controls with push-pull rods and hydraulic actuators. Full dual controls are provided, enabling either crewman to fly the helicopter. The control system has a feature increasing the cyclic and collective pitch lever forces as a warning if the danger of blade collision arises during manoeuvres.
The hydraulic system comprises two independent subsystems. The main system caters for the control actuators/servos and emergency gear extension; the common system caters for the landing gear, the cannon mount and serves as a back-up feed for the control actuators. The cockpit windshields, rotor blades and pitot heads are electrically de-iced; the engine air intakes and filters have hot-air de-icing. The electric system uses 115 V/400 Hz AC supplied by two 400-kW generators driven off the accessory gearbox. The air conditioning system uses bleed air from the engines or the APU. Besides, the helicopter’s equipment includes a pneumatic system and oxygen equipment.
The Ka-52 has an Argument-2000 integrated avionics suite enabling the helicopter to fly and fight round the clock and in all weather conditions. The suite includes a joint data processing system built around a Baghet-53 computer; a cockpit data presentation/input system with liquid-crystal MFDs and a wide-angle HUD; a navigation suite; an automatic flight control system; a weapons control system; a helmet-mounted cueing system (HMCS); an RN01 Arbalet-52 radar; a GOES-451 stabilised optoelectronic surveillance/targeting system; and the BKS-50 communications suite (comprising three radios, a scrambler and data link equipment). ESM/ECM/IRCM equipment includes an L-370V52 defensive electronics suite is provided; it includes RHAWS and MWS sensors giving 360° coverage. Four UV-26 flare dispensers are installed in the wingtip pods.
Ka-52 BASIC DATA| Length, rotors turning | 15.862 m (52 ft 0 3 in) |
| Fuselage length | 13.87 m (45 ft 6 in) |
| Height on ground | 5.01 m (16 ft 5 in) |
| Wing span | 7.835 m (25 ft 8 in) |
| Rotor diameter | 14.5 m (47 ft 6 in) |
| Rotor disc area, m2 (sq. ft) | 165.046 (1,774.68) |
| Empty weight, kg (lb) | 7,800 (17,195) |
| Take-off weight, kg (lb): | |
| normal | 10,400 (22,930) |
| maximum | 10,800 (23,810) |
| ferry configuration | 12,200 (26,900) |
| Payload, kg (lb) | 2,500 (5,510) |
| Max speed, km/h (mph) | 300 (186) |
| Cruising speed, km/h (mph) | 260 (161) |
| Max rate of climb, m/sec | |
| (ft/min): at sea level | 12.0 (2,350) |
| at 2,500 m (8,200 ft) | 9.0 (1,770) |
| Hovering ceiling OGE, m (ft) | 3,900 (12,800) |
| Service ceiling, m (ft) | 5,500 (18,040) |
| Operational range, km (miles) | 460 (285) |
| Ferry range, km (miles) | 1,110 (689) |