[UnderseaLcpl]

I agree the Hind is intimidating, but the Ka-50 and the Ka-52 are simply the coolest gunships around. Sleek and deadly.

I think I also like them because, like the BMP afv, they give the finger to America's overbloated and horrendously ineffecient military-industrial complex. The Soviets kind of had the same thing, but at least they had overseers who expected some results.

Consider the RAH-66 Commanche in it's capacity as the ultimate evolution of the LHX project. Gov wants a single-seat, "fighter" helicopter for reece and other applications . We spend billions researching things from NOTAR configs to advanced computers that could handle the nuances of tail-rotor control. In the end, it became a 2-seater anyway, and in '04, we scrapped it due to expense.

Kamov just puts a contra-rotating rotor on their chopper and calls it a day. Single seat, fast, effecient and deadly for billions less.


It's kind of like the Bradley AF-POS vs. the BMP (all models). Soviets had it decades earlier and for a much, much smaller investment.

Actually, both of those cases are like that joke about NASA. They spent millions developing a ball-point pen that functions in zero gravity, and the Soviets use a pencil. (I'm pretty sure that's not a true story but it's a great analogy)

So I vote for Kamov's super-sexy Black Shark and Alligator choppers, over the Hind (all models).