Ka-52 "Alligator" - helicopter of intellectual support

"Alligator" - a helicopter, which currently has the most sophisticated set of airborne equipment and the most effective weapon system. In addition, this combat vehicle, which has no analogues in the world, has a number of unique flight-tactical characteristics and capabilities. "Alligator" is a helicopter officially recognized as the Guinness Book of World Records as the best fighting machine in the world in its class. It is safe to say that the Ka-52, which is an extremely successfully modified version of the legendary Ka-50 "Black Shark" helicopter, is considered the pride of the national armed forces and the triumph of Russian scientific and technical thought.

The main difference from the predecessor is a two-seater cabin with a transverse placement of crew members. "Alligator" is a helicopter intended for storming fortified ground targets from the minimum possible heights regardless of weather conditions and time of day. The appearance of the second pilot allowed to significantly expand the combat capabilities of the machine. A new crew member can provide reconnaissance and electronic warfare, along with fire support for ground units , detection and recognition of targets, even at maximum distance. It also became possible to conduct target designation, target allocation and coordination of ground troops, to effectively interact with attack aircraft.

In the journal "Aviation and Cosmonautics" Ka-52 helicopter "Alligator" is called a machine of intellectual support. He fully justifies this definition. "Alligator" is a helicopter equipped with advanced navigational equipment that allows the combat vehicle to return to its starting point in case of injury to pilots or loss of consciousness. The majority of onboard equipment complexes operate on the principle of "switched on and forgotten". In other words, they are equipped with unique intelligent autonomous systems.

More than a third of the body of the machine is made of lightweight and extremely durable composite materials, which allowed to significantly reduce the flight mass of the helicopter, to book all vital units and assemblies, and to securely protect the cockpit, which, incidentally, is equipped with three multifunctional modern color LCD displays, And crew members have at their disposal special helmet-sights-indicators.

The helicopter "Alligator" is intended for round-the-clock combat, reconnaissance and coordination use. He works great in a group with other machines, interacts with ground units and command posts. In the future, it is planned to include in the composition of its weapons advanced anti-tank missiles with a range of up to fifteen kilometers. In the nose segment of the fuselage, the machines are installed by the thermal imagers of Thompson. This choice is due to some delays in the development of similar domestic equipment and the desire of the OKB to show potential customers their readiness to complete the best combat helicopter in the world with electronic systems not only of domestic production but also of foreign ones.

In an impressive size, located above the cockpit of the pilots, is the opticolocation complex "Samshit" of Russian design, which includes various ultra-modern tele- and laser equipment. Also the machine is equipped with a powerful telescope with an extremely sensitive optical head, which has a special rangefinder-designator. Such equipment makes it possible to detect and track small-size targets at a great distance, organically supplementing much more "finicky" television-thermal imaging systems. Above the hub of the rotors, the Arbalet radar is installed, which is the most advanced equipment of its kind in the world.

Of course, the introduction of such sophisticated equipment and the addition of a second pilot into the crew without making any changes to the previous power plant led to a reduction in some of the flight characteristics of the Ka-52 in comparison with the "Black Shark". The ceiling and the rates of climbing capacity decreased, and the magnitude of the maximum operational overload decreased somewhat. However, the "Alligator" is not intended to "throw oneself on the embrasure", taking fire on oneself. This is a real and sophisticated intellectual of special operations. His main mission is to ensure the combat use of the more dynamic and "thick-skinned" "Black sharks", which Ka-52 harmoniously complements. In addition, its main tasks are combat management, coordination and reconnaissance-covering activities, which determined the composition of its radio and optoelectronic equipment.