Thursday, January 15, 2009

Russia Has 3 Export Orders For Ka-52 Helicopters - Manufacturer

Russia Has 3 Export Orders For Ka-52 Helicopters - Manufacturer (NSI News Source Info)MOSCOW - January 15, 2009: Russia has received export orders for the delivery of Ka-52 Hokum-B combat helicopters from three countries, the manufacturer said on Tuesday. The Ka-52 is a twin-seat derivative of the Ka-50 Hokum-A attack helicopter, and is designed primarily for reconnaissance and target designation purposes. It is similar to the U.S. AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. The Ka-52 is another modification of the basic Ka-50 design. It features a two-place side-by-side cockpit and is designed to detect targets and redistribute them among supporting Ka-50. In comparison to the original Ka-50, it has a somewhat "softer" nose profile due to the wider cockpit, reduced cockpit armor, and large nose-mounted radome. Equipment includes radar with two antennas - mast-mounted for aerial targets and nose-mounted for ground targets, and "Samshite" day-and-night TV/thermal sighting system in two spherical turrets (one over the cockpit and second under the nose). The Ka-52 retains the side mounted cannon and six wing mounted hardpoints of the original Ka-50. Development of Ka-52 was started after 1994 in Russia. Economical and political problems prevented the Ka-52 from going into full scale production. Currently only few of them exist. Serial production of "Ka-52" was started at autumn 2008. "We have received orders for these helicopters from three countries," said Yury Denisenko, general director of the Progress aircraft manufacturing company. "We are studying these orders and will provide the names of the countries that ordered the aircraft if the contracts are signed," he added. Denisenko also said that the Russian Defense Ministry would remain the key customer for Ka-52 helicopters, although he refused to disclose the number of aircraft ordered by the military, citing confidentiality. The Russian government approved the production of Ka-52 attack helicopters at the Arsenyevsk plant in Russia's Far East in December last year. According to Russia's Air Force chief, Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, deliveries of the first 12 Ka-52 Hokum-Bs to the Russian Air Force will start in 2009.

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