Ka-52 Alligator
Russia's premier attack helicopter — from the Hostomel air assault to the standoff tank-killing screen that blunted the 2023 counteroffensive.
Record
Operators
Battlefield role
Anti-armour standoff strike with long-range guided missiles, and escort for air-assault operations — the rotary-wing system with the clearest documented battlefield effect on the Russian side.
Strengths
Coaxial rotors give agility and power at low level; heavy guided-missile load, extended by the LMUR missile to ranges beyond most front-line air defence; proved brutally effective against armour in the open in 2023.
Limitations
Heavy documented attrition — dozens lost, concentrated in 2022 when flown aggressively at low level; vulnerable on the ground, as the October 2023 ATACMS strike on Berdyansk airfield demonstrated; expensive airframes and crews that replace slowly.
Visual identification
Coaxial contra-rotating rotors with no tail rotor; side-by-side two-seat cockpit — both unique among attack helicopters; stub wings with weapons pylons and a flattened twin-fin tail.
Documented conflict use
Escorted the Hostomel air assault in February 2022; documented throughout the war, most consequentially as the standoff anti-armour screen against the 2023 southern counteroffensive. Losses are extensively documented by open-source trackers, including several destroyed on the ground at Berdyansk.
Branch & service operators
- Aerospace Forces (VKS)Documented
Related key events
Battle of Hostomel airport
VDV air-assault forces seize the airport outside Kyiv to open an air bridge for a rapid decapitation of the capital; the landing is contained and the airfield rendered unusable.