Posted on 05/07/2018 9:01:32 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
© Yuri Smityuk/TASS
MOSCOW, May 8./TASS/. A Russian Ka-52 helicopter crashed in Syria, both pilots were killed, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters on Monday.
"A Russian helicopter Ka-52 crashed while on a routine flight over eastern regions of the Syrian Arab Republic. Both pilots were killed," it said.
The ministry said a search and rescue team has taken the bodies to the home airfield. "According to early information, the incident may have been due to a technical malfunction," it said.
On May 3, a Russian Su-30SM fighter jet crashed over the Mediterranean Sea while moving upwards after the takeoff from the Hemymim airbase. Both pilots died. According to the Russian defense ministry, the accident might have been caused by a bird getting into an engine. The plane was not shot down, the ministry said.
The Ka-52 ‘Alligator’ reconnaissance and combat helicopter is designed to destroy tanks, armored and non-armored combat vehicles, manpower, helicopters and other hostile aircraft on the frontline and in tactical depth, in any weather conditions and at any time of day or night.
The Ka-52 is powered by two gas-turbine engines with a capacity of 2,400 hp each, which provide a flight altitude of more than 5,000 m. It is fitted with a 2A42-1 gun of 30mm caliber and is capable of carrying up to 2,500 kg of weapon payload.
More: http://tass.com/defense/1003238
Here is a not-dissimilar American ejection system that was fitted to a Sikorsky research heli. Never adopted for actual production helicopters, but it’s the same idea as the one in the Kamov 50/52.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLhZN7fTwQQ
That system is so “not-dissimilar” that it makes me wonder where the Russian designer may have gotten the basic sequence idea.
That is -very- similar.
That’s still better than the B-52, whose lower compartment personnel are rocket-ejected downwards. If the B-52 doesn’t have at least 500+ feet of altitude, the lower compartment crew are screwed.
The Mi-28 system is really a fast crew egress system, where the Ka-50/52 is a true ejection system.
The Mi-28 is their (very rough in the sense that it’s not a great correlation, not as in capability) counterpart to our Apache. It’s enough larger (and the Russians paid enough attention to what happened to downed American air crew in Vietnam and downed Russian air crew in Afghanistan) that it incorporates a ‘buddy rescue’ compartment. If a Russian craft goes down and the crew survives, an Mi-28 can land or hover nearby and up to three crew from the downed craft can clamber into a *very* tight but armored mini-compartment at the rear of the chopper and be rescued that way.
The Mi-28 is also heavily armored, more so than our Apache.
http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/makarov_aleksey/mi-28/images/mi-28_21_of_24.jpg
The Ka-50/52 is a rough (in the same way as above) counterpart to the cancelled RAH-66 Comanche scout/light attack helicopter project. Again, it is more heavily armed, more heavily armored but it more or less fills the same role (and shows how dumb we were to screw up then cancel the RAH-66).
The Hind doesn’t have a counterpart anywhere in the West. Modern Hinds could best be likened to a cross between a tank, a CH-53E Sea Stallion transport helicopter, an AH-1Z Super Cobra attack helicopter and a very pissed off bear.
The Russians copied a lot but this is something where form follows function and there’s not a lot of solutions. Heinkel and Saab independently both developed ejector seats during WW2; neither knew of the other’s work until much later even though both systems were near-identical.
It’s pretty obvious that you’re going to have to clear the rotors *somehow* if you want to upwards eject the crew. Pretty much the only option for that is explosively clearing them out of the way. It’s a case of form following function. There were other countries that experimented with similar ejection system ideas, including Martin-Baker of England and Bölkow of Gemany just after WW2.
The US experimented with downwards (as in straight down, not to the side and down) ejecting seats in the AH-56 Cheyenne project that got cancelled. That’s inherently a bad idea for a chopper that’s going to routinely be below 500 feet AGL. The Russians never bothered with that stupid idea.
According to Russian pilots and export documentation provided to interested buyers (including Egypt) the Kamov ejection system is supposedly useful down to zero/zero but in reality you should have about 100 meters altitude at a minimum to have a reasonable expectation of a safe ejection. The system is, however, capable of safely ejecting the crew at any speed the helicopter can attain from a straight hover to max forward, backwards or sideways velocity.
Because of the ejection system Russian doctrine is for Ka-50/52s to avoid operating closer than 150 meters to each other or to another rotorcraft as if the Kamov crew has to eject the blades can travel almost that far when ejected at speed.
One of the proposals for the Army Future Vertical Lift contract is this one from Sikorsky:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky-Boeing_SB-1_Defiant
It’s a pusher prop heli with contra-rotating blades.
A Russian Ka-52 helicopter crashed in Syria, both pilots were killedSounds like a problem.On May 3, a Russian Su-30SM fighter jet crashed over the Mediterranean Sea while moving upwards after the takeoff from the Hemymim airbase. Both pilots died.
There are explosive squibs that release the blades before the seat ejection occurs.
That’s actually pretty neat. Thanks, DesertRino.
Thanks, Sptyr.
I’ve loved the ungainly Hind since “Red Dawn”.
Whenever I see one I silently mouth the words “Avennnnge Meeee!”
Thanks for all the good info about the Ka-52 ejection system and the value of the contra-rotating blades.
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