Free Republic

Russian Helicopters corporation has confirmed that the Ka-52K Katran attack helicopter remains the company's priority project for the Russian Navy, given that it is much better suited to Navy tasks than its Mi-28N and Ka-52 cousins. Military observer Andrei Kotz explains what's so special about the chopper. The Ka-52K, the naval variant of the Kamov Ka-52 Aligator assault helicopter, was originally designed for use aboard the Mistral-class amphibious assault ships ordered by the Russian Defense Ministry in 2010. The compact ship-borne chopper design features folding rotor blades and wings, a specialized life-support system (including immersion suits for crew), and advanced...

The Ka-52K ship-based helicopters have successfully completed the first stage of sea trials, according to the press service of the Russian Helicopters holding company (part of the Rostec State Corporation). "Ka-52K helicopters have completed the first stage of sea trials. Currently, the vehicles are at Kamov’s facilities, where specialists are completing the status evaluation of the helicopters and their separate units after mission accomplishment in difficult climatic conditions," the report states. It is noted that the tests that took place from late 2016 to early 2017 involved two helicopters. According to Vladislav Saveliev, Deputy CEO of the holding company, it...

Russia has struck a deal with Egypt to deliver 46 Kamov Ka-52K navalized attack helicopters, the director-general of the state-run Russian Helicopters aircraft maker said Wednesday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Ka-52Ks were designed for French-made Mistral helicopter carriers that were to join the Russian Navy last year, before France cancelled the deal over Ukraine. The warships are now being bought by Cairo. "In the outgoing year, new contracts were signed with Russian and foreign helicopter users," Russian Helicopters Director-General Alexander Mikheev said in a statement published in the corporate magazine. He added that a major sale of Kamov naval helicopters were...

Russian Ka-52K rivals America’s AH-1Z Russia’s latest naval attack helicopter just might be the most fearsome ever. Moscow means to deploy the navalized adaptation of the coaxial-rotor Kamov Ka-52 aboard the Russian navy’s controversial, French-built amphibious assault ships. Without doubt, the current gold standard for maritime attack helps is the U.S. Marine Corps’ Bell AH-1Z Viper, the latest and most capable iteration of the classic HueyCobra—the pioneering gunship that first saw combat during the Vietnam War. Distinguished from its predecessors chiefly by its four-blade main rotor, the Viper gained entered front-line service in February 2011. The Boeing AH-64 Apache is...