Helicopter "Black Shark": death grip of a steel hawk

No large-scale operation of modern troops is unthinkable without the support of helicopters. These high-speed and super-maneuverable rotary wing vehicles transfer landing groups and special forces units, deliver various technical equipment and equipment to hard-to-reach areas: mountainous, wooded and marshy areas. In addition, such mobile and mobile machines carry out fire support for ground troops, conduct reconnaissance and general coordination activities.

The "Black Shark" helicopter is the world's best shock-assault single-propeller rotorcraft for the day, developed by the Kamov Experimental Design Bureau in 1982. On the technical perfection of its combat systems, it significantly exceeds the best analogous foreign models. The "Black Shark" helicopter has a flight mass of 10.8 tons, is capable of speeding up to 390 km / h, the rate of climb is 10 m / s, the maximum height is 5500 m.

In the early eighties, the Ka-50 produced an unprecedented furore, winning a three-stage contest from a two-seat Mi-28 assault machine and demonstrating an excellent set of combat qualities and technical characteristics. And immediately he was thrown into the crucible of the Afghan campaign, where many types of aviation equipment were shown to be untenable. That's why we needed a fundamentally new machine that would become a real bloodthirsty hawk and would be capable of effectively solving combat missions in the difficult conditions of a very specific war.

The Afghan mountains are an incredible dryness of rarefied air, these are deep narrow gorges, where abrupt changeable impetuous winds walk, these are Mujahideen armed with DShK, American Stingers, Egyptian "Arrows". Under such conditions, power plants often lacked oxygen, winds tossed cars onto rocks, and every combat sortie was akin to a feat. In these circumstances, the Ka-50 "Black Shark" helicopter was a real gift of Soviet designers.

It is not only unimaginably powerful, with an excellent booking machine, but also very obedient in piloting. She forgives the pilot many mistakes, which is incredibly important in such difficult combat conditions. In the hands of the pilot is like a herd of powerful and graceful mustangs, which will be taken out of any trouble and critical situation. In Afghanistan, for its fantastic qualities, the Black Shark helicopter received another respectful and little-known nickname - "Werwolf." According to NATO classification "Black Shark" was called "Hokum" ("deceiver").

Military experts unanimously assert that no rocket attack of the Ka-50 will survive any tank in the world. This rotorcraft is a perfect weapon, born of the war itself. Anti-tank missiles launched from the side of the "Black Shark" at a distance of up to ten kilometers from the target, guided by a special laser targeting unit, inevitably and relentlessly overtake the target, no matter what maneuvers he does.

And if all missile ammunition is consumed, the pilot has a quick-fire large-caliber gun that automatically tracks the location of the target, as well as reactive unguided projectiles and bombs. Despite such tremendous firepower and impressive armor protection, "Black Shark" is able to perform the most complex maneuvers, incredible aerial acrobatic numbers and aerobatics, which is unattainable for the vast majority of modern rotary-wing vehicles.

The Ka-50 is the only helicopter in the world, operated by one pilot. In order to save the pilot in an emergency situation, the Black Shark employs an unprecedented missile-parachute system for the K-37 bailout. In addition, the car is equipped with a navigation system, which allows you to fly at any time of the day and under the most unfavorable weather conditions. The "Black Shark" helicopter has an absolutely terrific ability to interact with other combat group vehicles. Each pilot sees on the special LCD display not only all his "own" helicopters, but also the coordinates of the targets they found. Based on these data, the commander gives the order for an attack.

A good technical reasonableness of the Ka-50 scheme made it possible to create on its basis a new two-seater model of a combat rotary-wing car - the Ka-52, nicknamed the "Alligator", whose construction is eighty five percent composed of elements and materials of its predecessor. The latter, having preserved many of the characteristics of its prototype, added new ones to them. Today, the tandem Ka-52 helicopter - "Black Shark" - the most perfect combination of combat vehicles in the world. In a pair they are able to solve an incredible range of tasks. The all-destructive firepower and the excellent booking of the Ka-50 are organically complemented by the fantastic combat intellect and coordination capabilities of the Alligator.