Military Heat

The Kamov Ka-50/52 is the world’s first coaxial attack helicopter. The Ka-50 Black Shark and Ka-52 Alligator have entered service with the Russian Army in 1995. Developed in the mid 1980s, the Kamov Ka-50 Black Shark is also the world’s only single seat attack helicopter and the first production helicopter to be fitted with a zero-zero ejection seat.

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The Denel AH-2 Rooivalk is a modern attack helicopter manufactured in South Africa by Denel Aerospace Systems, a division of Denel Ltd. 12 of these helicopters were ordered by the South African Air Force. The first helicopter entered service with the South African Air Force in 1999 and by April 2005 only six Rooivalk were operational as part of the 16 Squadron, which is based at AFB Bloemspruit near Bloemfontein.

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The Mil Mi-28A/N attack helicopter is the Russian equivalent of the American Apache helicopter. Developed as a successor of the famous Mi-24 Hind, the Mi-28, known to NATO as Havoc, is a tandem two-seat helicopter optimized for the anti-tank role. This is Russia’s latest gunship.

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Here are two videos I posted on metacafe, featuring the mighty Russian Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter. The first video is a Czech Mi-24, and the second is a Slovakian Mil. Both videos showcase the helicopter’s maneuvering skills, and performances. They are both very cool videos if you are a military fanatic like I am Enjoy!
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One of the planes that impressed me in my early years, was the C-130 Hercules. I don’t know why, but along with the DC-3 (and the military version C-47) it has always caught my imagination and interest.
The aircraft started production in ‘56 after the project was won in the 1950 by Lockheed Martin with the YC-130 prototype. An interesting fact is that this “old girl” is still in production!
Actually it’s still wanted by military air forces around the world including the USAF. And in September 2006 the “headcount” was for 186 planes to be made and delivered! That is simply unheard off, for such an “old plane”, but the secret stands in its oldness. Or lack of it, actually.
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The Apache AH-64 helicopter is the current workhorse of the US Military. The need for an attack helicopter started after the war in Vietnam when a lot of Huey helicopters were fitted with attack rockets. Although the Huey did its job properly as an armed transport helicopter, as an attach chopper it left a bitter taste, over 5000 people dying in it!

Thus the Apache was created. The first one flew in 1975, and after proving its worth, in 1983 the assembly line started rolling aircraft after aircraft at a price of 18 million US dollars.
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