Ka-50 HOKUM / BLACK SHARK (KAMOV)

Gary's Combat Aircraft Reference Guide

Manufacturer Designations: Ka-50 "Black Shark", Ka-52 "Alligator"
Country of Origin: CIS (Formerly USSR).
Similar Aircraft: Hirundo A109, Mangusta A129, AH-64 Apache, AH-1F Cobra.
Crew: Ka-50 - One, Ka-52 - Two (side-by-side).
Role: Antihelicopter and gunship.
Armament: Moveable 2A42 30mm gun on right side plus six external wing stores with some combination of: 12 "Vikhr" anti-tank missiles, 80 80mm rockets, 10 122mm rockets, 4 "Igla-B" air-to-air missiles.
Dimensions: Length: 44 ft, 3 in (13.5 m). Rotor diameter: 45 ft, 10 in (14 m).
Performance Range 283 miles (455 km).

The armored cockpit withstands 23mm fire and the windscreen withstands 12.7mm fire.

Wings: Coaxial, contrarotating, three-blade main rotors, widely separated with swept-back tips. Equally tapered, short, stubby, weapon-carrying wings with end plates.

Engine(s): Twin turboshafts mounted high on the fuselage above the stubby wings. Semicircular air intakes. Exhausts are turned outward.

Fuselage: Streamlined body tapers to the front and rear. Flat-bottomed except for underbelly gun pod and sensor. Flat plated glassed-in canopy. Ka-52 has wider nose section and canopy.

Tail: Thick, tapering tail boom. Back-tapered tail fin with a square tip. Flats are high-mounted on the tail boom with end plates. Flats are located forward of the fin. No tail rotor.

CIS.