10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Russian Air Force Kamov Ka-50: Dmitriy Pichugin· GFDL 1.2
- 2. Ka-50 NTW 7 8 93: Tomasz Szulc· Public domain
- 3. Ka-50 Heck: Kobel· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 4. Ka-50 helicopters over Moscow: Dmitry Pichugin· GFDL 1.2
- 5. Ka-50: Kobel· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 6. Ka-50Bug: Kobel· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 7. KA50 weapons: Allocer· Public domain
- 8. Kamov Ka-50 Black Shark, Russia - Air Force AN2253721: Alex Beltyukov - RuSpotters Team· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 9. Kamov Ka-50 Hokum, Russia - Air Force JP6074591: Anton Bannikov· GFDL
- 10. Kamov Ka-50 in flight: Sergey Krivchikov· GFDL 1.2
what is it?
The Kamov Ka-50 "Black Shark" (Russian: Камов Ка-50 «Чёрная акула», romanized: Chyornaya akula, English: kitefin shark, literally: black shark), NATO reporting name Hokum A, is a Soviet/Russian single-seat attack helicopter with the distinctive coaxial rotor system of the Kamov design bureau. It was designed in the 1980s and adopted for service in the Russian army in 1995. The Ka-50 is manufactured by the Progress company in Arsenyev.
How to recognise it: 2 turboshaft engines · 14.5 m main rotor
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 44 years ago, in 1982.
- Top speed is 2.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Rotor of 14.5 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
turboshaft: A turbine that turns a shaft, usually a helicopter rotor.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1982-06-17
- introduced
- 1995
- status
- still flying
- number built
- 16
- role
- attack helicopter, scout helicopter
- origin
- 🇷🇺 Soviet Union
- makers
- Kamov
- engines
- 2× Klimov VK-2500 / Klimov TV3-117
- crew
- 1
- length
- 16 m
- rotor diameter
- 14.5 m
- height
- 4.9 m
- max take-off weight
- 10.8 t
- top speed
- 315 km/h
- cruise speed
- 270 km/h
- range
- 545 km
- ceiling
- 5,500 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q269250, Wikipedia: Kamov Ka-50 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.