Attack Helos

[daferg]

I have got to admit I have learned a lot about helicopters in the past few days. DRG mentioned the KA-50 so I started a new search based on the heliopter. Did you know the the 30mm on the KA-50 is the same one thats on the BMP-2? Did you know that the primary model is a single-seater? I can't think of another single-seat attack helicopter. Did you know it has a real not kidding or making Russian Army jokes ejection seat? The main rotors are blown off and then the pilot is ejected by a rocket motor under his seat. The pilot also has the option of rolling out of his door to eject. They say you learn something new everyday. I found an awesome article that goes into great detail about the entire helicopter. The link is: http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/ka-50.php

I'll copy and paste the important info below:

ARMAMENT: Four BD3-UV pylons on wings. Up to 80 S-8 80mm air-to-surface rockets in four underwing B8V20A packs or 20 S-13 122mm rockets in four B-13L pods; or up to 12 9A4172 Vikhr-M (AT-12) tube-launched laser-guided ASMs with range of 8 to 10km capable of penetrating 900mm of reactive armour; or mix of both; Vikhr launched from trainable UPP-800 mounts, which can be depressed to -12°; single-barrel 30mm 2A42 gun on starboard side of fuselage, with up to 470 armour-piercing or high-explosive fragmentation rounds, can be depressed from +3° 30' to -37° in elevation and traversed from -2° 30' to +9° in azimuth hydraulically and is kept on target in azimuth by tracker which turns helicopter on its axis; two ammunition boxes in centre-fuselage. Front box contains 240 AP rounds, rear box 230 HE rounds. Selectable rapid (550 to 600 rds/min) or slow (350 rds/min) fire, with bursts of 10 or 20 rounds. Provision for alternative weapons, including UPK-23-250 23mm gun pods, Igla or R-73 (AA-11 'Archer') AAMs. Kh-25MP (AS-12 'Kegler') ARMs, FAB-500 bombs or dispenser weapons.

Now that I read it again I notice it says the same thing DRG posted but he used a lot fewer words. The article is worth reading just for the ejection seat.

ferg