Alexander Mladenov about the Ka-52 “Alligator” helicopter
Famous foreign aviation columnist Alexander Mladenov devoted a large article to the Ka-52 attack helicopter. As usual, A.2 was not too lazy to translate an interesting and informative text.
In December, the leadership of the Russian Army Aviation 2010 announced the long-awaited commissioning of the Ka-52 Alligator military helicopter, and the first shipments to the combat unit took place in May 2011.
In August, 2003, the then Air Force Commander V. Mikhailov, publicly confirmed the Air Force’s readiness to raise funds for the development of a new-generation combat helicopter. Not one, but two combat helicopters were to be sent in to replace heavily loaded and worn Mi-24 helicopters. Informed observers at first decided that this statement was another public relations campaign of the Russian military or, at best, a sincere expression of the secret dream of the general. But today, nine years after this event, the dream came true and army aviation, which is part of the Russian Air Force, receives three types of combat helicopters: Ka-52, Mi-28Н and Mi-35М.
The Ka-52 co-axial twin-wing helicopter (NATO code: “Hokum-B”) is the most advanced of the whole trio. Initially it was planned to purchase a limited number of these helicopters for the Russian air forces, which were supposed to support special operations forces, but in the end, the number of Ka-52s in army aviation would exceed that of Mi-28Н.
Ka-52 can use controlled and unmanaged heavy systems. weapons, equipped with a modern (at least according to the current Russian standards of military electronics) round-the-clock surveillance system and data exchange system. This two-seat helicopter is positioned as particularly effective in irregular military operations (counter-guerrilla warfare - and much more adapted for this than its predecessor, the single-seat Ka-50, as well as the obsolete Mi-24), and also very effective in fighting tanks and direct support to the troops.
The initial batch of 12 Ka-52 for army aviation was ordered in 2009, and in December 2010 the first four helicopters were received by the customer and transferred to the 344-th Center for Combat Use and Combat Training in Torzhok. These helicopters were used for the training of instructors who will train the pilots of combat units. Another task of the Center is to develop new tactics for the Alligator. The remaining eight helicopters from this party were transferred to 2011 in the first military squadron, re-armed to a new type and assigned to the 575-th air base in Chernigov in the Far East. By October, the 2011 Squadron numbered 12 helicopters. New helicopters from the lot in the 36 helicopters are in production, four of them were produced in 2011. The last helicopters from this lot are scheduled to be handed over to the customer by the end of 2013.
It was reported that at the end of 2011, the state joint tests of the Ka-52 had ended and that the helicopter had fully advanced avionics, which included a millimeter radar "Arbalet-52", a round-the-clock gyro-stabilized optical-electronic system GOES-451 and a fully operational onboard defense complex "Vitebsk". Although none of these modern systems were installed on the first batch of helicopters transmitted at the end of 2010 - the beginning of 2011, there are plans to install them on these helicopters.
Preceded by Ka-52
The Ka-50 helicopter (NATO code “Hokum”) made its first flight in 1982, and at the beginning of the 1990's. He was chosen as a new attack helicopter for the Russian Air Force, which was designed to supplement and then replace the Mi-24. Ka-50 was put into service in 1995, in the same year, the first helicopter entered service in the TsPPiPLS in Torzhok. Soon the financing was over, as a result, probably only four Ka-1990 were produced in 50.
Four more helicopters were delivered in 2008 and 2009. Two Ka-50s were used in Chechnya from December 2000 to March 2001. The main reason for which the helicopters were sent there was that the Kamov Design Bureau and the Air Force wanted to evaluate the coaxial design of the new combat helicopter in real combat conditions. Helicopters made 14 combat missions in Chechnya, during which they made more than one hundred missions, using 929 80-mm NURS and 16 30-mm projectiles, as well as three Vortex-1 ATGMs. All munitions fired hit their targets.
Development
The development of the double version of the basic single Ka-50 began in 1994 under the supervision of the General Designer of the Design Bureau Kamov S.V. Mikheev. He is known as the father of the Ka-50 and is the longest-serving chief designer in the modern Russian aviation industry, leading the Kamov design bureau for more than 40 years.
The prototype Ka-52 with the serial number "061" made the first flight of 25 on June 1997, under the control of chief pilot Kamov A. Smirnov. The helicopter was intensively used for various tests, and also participated in promotions. Therefore, the composition of sensors and avionics could change several times a year. In 2003, he completed state flight tests to confirm the declared flight characteristics. In 2006, the Russian Ministry of Defense allocated funds for the development of various helicopter systems, as well as the creation of a production line at Progress in the town of Arsenyev.
The second prototype Ka-52 (“062”), built on “Progress”, first flew in June 2008, and the third prototype (“063”), which became the first pre-production helicopter, made its first flight in October of the same year. . It was followed by three more copies (No. 051-053), and all helicopters took part in the final stage of the state joint tests of the helicopter, which were conducted by the Russian Air Force with the participation of the Kamov design bureau and successfully completed 20 on November 2011. full-scale production of a helicopter equipped with a radar, a data exchange system and two types of ATGM.
The coaxial propeller scheme, which Kamov KB specializes in, allows the helicopter to have smaller dimensions and weight compared to the usual helicopters. When comparing helicopters with coaxial and conventional schemes of identical mass and identical engine power, it can be seen that the dimensions of the coaxial helicopter on the 35 — 40% is smaller. The absence of the tail rotor means the absence of tail rudder drives and the corresponding transmission, which are pulled beyond the firing of the main rotor. This is an important factor for flight safety and combat survivability.
E.A. Petrosyan, deputy chief designer of the Kamov design bureau, explained: “When comparing the safety level of coaxial and classic helicopters, there are numerous factors to consider, such as reliability, durability, resistance to fatigue phenomena and combat survivability. The importance of the “human factor” in ensuring flight safety should be noted. In this regard, the coaxial Ka-52 scheme has advantages due to its simplicity of control, better maneuverability, as well as higher aerodynamic characteristics compared to the helicopters of the classical scheme. Moreover, the loss of the keel or rudder, for example, due to a hard landing in the autorotation mode, will not greatly affect the safety of flights. ”
When designing the Ka-52, the original task was to achieve maximum unification with the Ka-50. As a result, its level reached 85%, and the first batches of serial Ka-52 were built using the Ka-50 reserve for the fuselage and components.
Crew Protection and Pilot Placement Side by Side
The Ka-52 is the only helicopter gunship in the world that uses side-by-side crew accommodation. This was done as a result of the generalization of the practice of test pilots of the Torzhkovsky TsTSPP & PLS, who have a huge attack and experience in combat use of the Mi-8 ("side by side") and Mi-24 ("tandem layout"). The acknowledged chief pilot of the Kamov Design Bureau and former military test pilot A.S. Papay, who has more than 7700 hours of flying, supports the opinion of his predecessors: “I can confirm that when pilots are placed side by side, the interaction is faster, more convenient and easier than the tandem scheme. In most cases, they understand each other without words at all, using only gestures - this is the so-called “feeling of the elbow”. ” His opinion is also shared by veterans of the Federal Security Service who have combat experience, who performed extremely successful night sorties on a modified Mi-8MH helicopter armed with missiles and capable of being deployed around the clock during a counterterrorist operation in Chechnya. They appreciated the location of the pilots "side by side" due to better control of the situation and a much more efficient exchange of information during intense sorties when searching and destroying well-disguised targets with guided weapons.
The cockpit Ka-52 differs from Ka-50. The curved side cockpit glazing of the Ka-52 cockpit withstands hitting of 12,7-mm caliber bullets, additional protection is provided by overlapping side armor plates. Additional protection is provided by placing pilots side by side, thus they close each other from the fragments of shells and missiles flying from the side. This brutal principle is the brainchild of general designer S. Mikheev. This approach increases the likelihood that at least one member of the crew will survive the explosion of enemy ammunition on the side of the helicopter. With the traditional location of the pilots, the risk for them is much higher.
According to Mikheev, the nose of the helicopter is protected from shells of caliber up to 20 mm, and he claims that the mass of armor in the Ka-52 set is less than on the tandem scheme that has the same protection helicopter. Additional protection covers the most vulnerable parts of the helicopter: for example, the propeller blades withstand hitting 20-mm projectiles. Other security measures include the tried and tested ejection seats of the K-37-800 pilots (also installed on the Ka-50 single-seat), which ensure that both pilots leave the helicopter at the same time. With a forced landing, the crew’s chances of survival are enhanced by a combination of a hard energy-absorbing chassis and impact resistant seats.
Improved sighting system
The Ka-52 is equipped with an integrated on-board electronic equipment complex with an open architecture "Argument-52" (also known as BREO-52), which is based on the GOST R 52070-2004 interface (equivalent to the Mil-Std-1553B standard). The pilots have at their disposal five color LCD displays on the dashboard, plus one smaller monitor between the legs in place of the left pilot. There is also an indicator on the background of the ILS-31 windshield for the left pilot, which is used for piloting the helicopter and aiming the weapon along the course. The system of helmet-mounted target designation for targeting onboard weapons is at the development stage, but until now, the Russian electronics industry has not been able to create similar systems comparable to Western counterparts.
Gyrostabilized opto-electronic system GOES-451 manufactured by UOMZ is installed in the helicopter's nose and equipped with a TV camera (with a wide and narrow field of view), a thermal imager, a laser range finder, a target indicator, a laser irradiation sensor and an ATGM guidance system. In the final version, the Ka-52, to the left of the GOES-451, is equipped with a smaller “ball” of the TOES-520 system, which has a TV camera and a thermal imager used for night flights. The cockpit lighting allows the use of night-vision goggles; the Ka-52 pilots are provided with 3 generation GEO-ONV-1-01K night vision glasses, developed by Geophysics-NV.
X-band X-band crossbow radar (wavelength - 52 mm) was developed by Phazotron-NIIR and is used for flying at night and in bad weather conditions, it detects obstacles and allows flying at ultra-low heights and in the mapping of the terrain and detecting goals. The radar has the ability to indicate moving targets and can be used at minimum altitudes from 8 to 10 meters.
According to Mikheev, “the integration of the radar went surprisingly smoothly thanks to the considerable experience with the radar, which our company has accumulated during the development of the Ka-25 and Ka-27 naval helicopters. We abandoned the idea of placing a radar in a nadtruchny fairing, since installing a radar in the nose gives a certain gain in the mass of the helicopter. For example, there are no restrictions on the size of the antenna array and the weight and size characteristics of radar instrumentation equipment. In addition, vibrations are much less felt here. ”
The flight tests of the Arbalet-52 radar on the first Ka-52 prototype in 2004 confirmed the design characteristics. Although the radar does not have the ability to automatically recognize the target, this mode may be added in the future. According to the pilots, the display mode of moving targets also functioned well.
Guided weapons
According to Mikheev, a much more extensive arsenal can be used compared to the Ka-50 on the Ka-52. To do this, the helicopter has four main suspension points, and when it is necessary to suspend the twin Strelets launchers with the Eagle-E air-to-air missiles, they are mounted on an additional pair of suspension points next to the wing tips.
Air-to-ground systems include the available and tested 9М120-1 Attack and Whirlwind-1 ATGM. "Attack" is applied from a package consisting of six containers. Initially, the guidance system was radio command, but then it was replaced by a laser one, for which the GOES-451 is used. The Ka-52 will mainly use the 9М120Ф modification, equipped with a high-explosive / thermobaric warhead for engaging manpower in open spaces and in shelters having a range of 6 km.
ATGM 9А4172 "Vortex-1" has a firing range of up to 10 km, and is the main weapon for hitting armored targets. The rocket is used from the APU-6 outboard for six missiles (the helicopter can carry up to two APU-6), it is equipped with a tandem warhead capable of penetrating up to a meter of armor behind the active defense system. The ATGM is equipped with shock and non-contact fuses, depending on the type of target, the pilot can choose the type of fuse. When using the proximity fuse, the Whirlwind can be used as an effective weapon in the air-to-air class, capable of hitting targets moving at speeds up to 800 km / h.
Another ATGM system that can be installed on the Ka-52 is the Hermes-A two-stage long-range missile, the test launch of which with the Ka-52 took place for the first time in 2003 g. This is a very large system - the transport and packaging container is 3,5 long. meters and weighs 107 kg. The system can be applied according to the principle “shot, watched, corrected” and “shot-forgotten”. It is equipped with a tandem high-explosive warhead. In addition to bronzelei, ATGM can be used to defeat fortified shelters, ships and aircraft. Up to four air-to-air missiles 52М9 Igla-V, equipped with an IR GOS and used in two-rocket launchers, can be suspended on the Ka-39.
Uncontrollable, but amazingly accurate weapon
The unguided weapon in the Ka-52 arsenal is represented by 80-mm and 122-mm NURS, which are launched from 20 and 5 rocket blocks. According to Papay, the 80-mm NURS C-8 proved to be a very precise weapon when used with the Ka-50 / 52 due to the combination of a stable platform and a high-precision sighting system. According to him, “when launching with the Ka-52, the inexpensive NURS C-8 can no longer be considered a weapon that is used by area, now it is already a high-precision weapon.” Usually NURS C-8 is applied from a distance of 1,5 km.
The helicopter can also use bombs weighing 250 kg and 500 kg, the container KMGU-2, and the suspended gun container UPK-23-250. In addition, the 30-mm 2А42 cannon is mounted on a helicopter with a limited-mobility cannon mount NPPU-80 (460 rounds of ammunition). The complex is equipped with a hydraulic drive that allows you to deflect the gun to 3,5 ° up and 37 ° down. The horizontal targeting is carried out by turning the entire helicopter, but its turning speed is comparable to the turning speed of the gun installation of the Mi-28H helicopter. MOT-80 is considered to be a very accurate weapon in both mobile and fixed modes. According to Popeye, “in the course of routine training, we achieve accuracy at the level of 1.2-1.4 angular mil, that is, at a distance of 1000 meters, shells hit the target with the size 1,5м X 1,5 m”.
The 2А42 gun was chosen due to its reliability, especially in dusty conditions and dirt, as well as due to the ability to use ammunition from ground forces. Its rate of fire is 900 shots per minute in speed mode and 200-300 shots in slow, there is also a mode of firing single projectiles. Due to the high velocity of the projectile (980 m / s) and its relatively large mass, which leads to a large kinetic effect, 2А42 is one of the most powerful guns in the world installed on helicopters, if not the most powerful. At a distance of 1500 meters, an armor-piercing projectile has armor penetration in 15 mm at a meeting angle of 60 °. The maximum effective firing range is 4000 meters.
The future of the Alligator looks promising
In 2011, the Ministry of Defense decided to purchase additional Ka-52 numbers by signing a contract for 140 helicopters, the latter of which should be delivered to 2020. Progress’s maximum production capacity is 24 helicopters per year (in 2011, 12 helicopters were launched , in 2012 and 2013, the release should increase to 15 units. As of September, 2011 Progress has released the 17 Ka-52 (including two prototypes and three pre-production helicopters), and 12 also appears to have been at various stages of assembly.
The Ka-52 is also regarded as a new attack helicopter for use with the Mistral UDC. The first prototype of the Ka-52 was tested on the deck of the French UDC Mistral during his visit to St. Petersburg in December 2009. The maritime version of the Ka-52K helicopter will be equipped with folding blades and wings, enhanced landing gear, crew life support at sea and anti-corrosion fuselage and equipment. A new radar of the centimeter range of sight and target designation of the X-35 RCC will also be installed on it in the nose. In August, 2011 was announced by Fazotoron-NIIR Corporation to develop a new radar with PAR for Ka-52K based on the Zhuk-AE radar. Testing of the first prototype is scheduled to begin in 2012.
The aviation wing of each of the four UDC "Mistral" will consist of eight combat and eight assault assault helicopters. The Russian Navy will need at least 40 new combat helicopters, and, according to Mikheev, the first serial Ka-52K is planned to be delivered to the troops at the end of 2014 - the beginning of 2015, which should coincide with the date of transfer of the first UDC "Mistral".
He also believes that the Ka-52 has good export prospects, adding that new equipment and Western-style avionics can be installed on it. The launch of the Ka-52 in Russian army aviation will significantly improve the chances of signing export contracts, and the Russian media reported on the existing interest in the helicopter from many countries.
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