MOSCOW, June 18 - RIA Novosti. Back in the 1990s, the Ka-50 Black Shark attack helicopter was able to work in conjunction with reconnaissance drones, in particular, to receive target designation from the Bee drone, Alexey Novikov, one of the testers of the unique machine, Hero of Russia, Honored Military Pilot of the Russian Federation, president of the Russian Helicopter Union, told RIA Novosti.
According to him, the task was to implement the hardware interface of the helicopter and the Stroy-P complex with the Bee drone.
"There was a difference in the coordinates of the helicopter systems and those transmitted by the Bee, but this was not a big problem. The industry was engaged in this, this task was solved by our order. But, unfortunately, times were hard, then this topic was not brought up," the interlocutor clarifies.
The operational reconnaissance drone "Bee-1T" was created in the Yakovlev Design Bureau as part of the Stroy-P complex in 1990. The complex was intended for round-the-clock monitoring of objects and transmitting their television or thermal imaging images in real time to a ground control point.
The Ka-50 was developed on a competitive basis - the Mi-28 from the Mil company acted as a competitor. The design of the helicopter, which received the designation B-80 (or "product 800"), began in January 1977. The defense of the draft design and layout of the B-80 took place in April-May 1981, and a year later its first prototype was built.
Unlike the helicopters of the classic layout, the Kamov machine differed from the traditional rather for deck helicopters by the coaxial rotor scheme and one crew member. The car first took to the air exactly 40 years ago – on June 17, 1982. The Ka-50 did not become mass-produced in the troops, but it was widely used in army aviation already in the two-seat appearance of the Ka-52 "Alligator". On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the first flight of the Black Shark, which was celebrated the day before, Novikov shared his memories of the progress of work on these outstanding combat vehicles.
Through the thorns into the system
In the Mi-28, the crew consisted of a pilot and an armament operator. To achieve the combination of the functions of a pilot and an arms operator on the Ka-50, advanced flight automation and weapons control systems at the time of the helicopter's development allowed. By the end of the 80s - early 90s, both helicopters reached the final stage of comparative state tests.
But the general designer of the Mi-28, Mark Weinberg, did not give up and decided to offer a more advanced version of his car on the basis of the Mi-28 - an all-weather round-the-clock version - the Mi-28N.
"In the spring of 1993, a draft design was submitted to the commission, the project was adopted, and further development work was given way," Novikov said.
The basic version of the Ka-50 was adopted in 1995. An installation batch of 12 boards was released. Four vehicles were delivered to the Combat Use Center, the rest remained at the enterprise. In response to the development of the Mi-28N, Kamov created a night version of the Ka-50 – Ka-50SH, but the helicopter did not enter service.
"The Commission considered that it would be difficult for a pilot of a single-seat attack helicopter to perform safe flights at extremely low altitudes. First of all, this was due to the imperfection of the on-board equipment available at that time, providing night piloting: a night vision device, a locator," Novikov explains.
However, the potential of the Shark was huge, and Kamov was not going to give up work on the car.
From "Shark" to "Alligator"
General Designer Sergey Mikheev makes a bold decision – to make a two-seat version based on the Ka-50, although there were fears that this would critically increase the weight and dimensions of the helicopter.
"Initially, there was an idea to make the Ka-50 according to the "tandem" scheme, where the crew is placed one after the other. But a feature emerged – with the "tandem" it was necessary to increase the length of the fuselage by a meter. This would lead to a deterioration in the efficiency of control at low speeds and while hovering," says the pilot.
Then the layout of the crew "side-by-side" was chosen, as on the Mi-8 and Kamov ship helicopters. There were disputes on this score, but the developers came to the conclusion that two crew members would distribute the viewing sectors: the left hemisphere and the right. At the same time, they are in the same cabin, see each other and can directly exchange information.
"From the very beginning, it was decided to create a cabin with dual controls. This increases reliability in the event of an emergency and allows you to retrain pilots. As a result, the cabin layout from the Ka-60 "Killer Whale" helicopter was taken as a basis, it was modified, and the Ka-52 turned out. Initially, its name was Ka-50-2, that is, Ka-50 with two crew members, the name Ka-52 "Alligator" was proposed directly by the general designer," Novikov explains.
With the onset of the 2000s, the situation with military financing began to improve, as a result, both the Ka-52 and Mi-28N were adopted.
According to him, the Ka-52 has an excellent defense system. Earlier, RIA Novosti sources reported that as part of the special operation, the Vitebsk airborne defense complex, which is installed on Russian attack helicopters, demonstrates high efficiency, averaging three to five Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles from portable complexes per flight.
In May, on the sidelines of the HeliRussia-2022 exhibition, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Vladimir Kozhin told RIA Novosti that the Ka-52 had revealed its full potential and had become a real "workhorse" of the Russian strike force in a special operation.
"When they ask me, where is that legendary "Black Shark", I answer: look at the "Alligator". The layout, weapon systems, cannon, engines are all the same, only the cabin module has changed. Of course, from the beginning of development and before entering service, over the years of its formation, the Alligator has passed the evolutionary path to a magnificent helicopter," Novikov concluded.
