The Russian Helicopter That Outperforms The AH64

Originally posted by projectvxn It requires no tail rotor to counter act single direction torque that you would find in all US rotary wing aircraft.

CH-47?

The Ka-50 series isn't new really. It's a very nice airframe with lots of growth potential. Performance of the platform itself is very solid. It's certainly more pleasing to the eye than the Havoc which is hideous.

By all accounts the US is highly outclassed by this formidable war machine.

A couple of arguments for you. First, day-night operation. AH-64 has it; The Hokum doesn't. Again, you can upgrade the avionics like IAI did for Turkey, but neither that or the purely Russian parallel development have gone into production. You can always add better/more sensors (for a performance penalty, of course), but this brings us to our next point.
I tend to agree with the comment above about crew workload. The extra pair of eyes and hands comes in handy -- the Hokum is the only current heavy attack helo I can think of that is single crew. Everyone has agreed it is better to have someone to run the systems. And if we're tacking on extra doodads, dials, knobs and switches and all-weather capability it'd be near essential to have another crew member.

reply to post by projectvxn


Both aircraft are designed to take hits up to 23mm calibre. The Ka-50 and Ka-52 have slightly greater agility and speed because of the twin rotor design. No tail rotor is an advantage. The Ka-52 is the 2 seat version.

The Apache's mast mounted Northrop Grumman millimetre-wave Longbow radar and Stinger, AIM-9 Sidewinder, Mistral and Sidearm air-to-air missiles and the turret mounted 30mm gun give the Apache first look first shot first kill versus the Ka-50 Ka-52 Hokum.

The Apache can carry up to 16 radar guided Hellfire which can be fire and forget with a range of 12km the Hokum can carry 12 Vikhr with a range of 8km which are laser guided not fire and forget.

The Hokum is certainly a very capable attack helicopter but to say it is more capable than the AH-64D Apache Longbow is not accurate.

defenceforumindia.com...

Originally posted by projectvxn
The Kamov KA-50 attack Helicopter.

This helicopter is among the most advance, heavily armed, and most thoroughly armored rotary wing aircraft in the world. It is highly maneuverable and boasts a highly efficient coaxial main rotor system. It requires no tail rotor to counter act single direction torque that you would find in all US rotary wing aircraft. This is highly advantageous because the tail rotor system tends to use a lot of power and if you lose tail rotor in an AH 64, you die.

This design improves the aerobatics of the aircraft. It can roll, loop, and perform a maneuver called "the funnel" in which it maintains line of sight of it's target while circling it.

It is faster than the AH 64 which has two T700 GE 701D engines producing 1600 shaft horse power.

The KA-50 has 2 twin turboshaft engines producing 2200 SHP per engine. More than enough power to run it's highly advanced avionics suite, comms system, and coaxial rotor system.

By all accounts the US is highly outclassed by this formidable war machine.

It also carries less weapons than the AH-64. And lets not forget that most of our Apaches have the Longbow radar system, the worlds most advanced heliborne radar system, far superior to anything Russia has. Funny you forgot those facts..................

DARPA announced a new helicopter to top the Russians speed. A project with Boeing, retractable helicopter blades into a disc.

$5 says some other country builds it first before Boeing. The Russians will probably build a large wide lifting body with DARPA's disc rotor retractable blade design and have a P-38 double tail with ducted fans on each tail for anti-torque they'll be able to turn rearwards when the rotor retracts.


gizmodo.com...

My money's on the Russians new design to top Boeings Plan. Why didn't Boeing go for a wide lifting body design as well? Those wings look silly on a chopper.