September 29, 2012: Russia announced that they would place 30 Ka-52K and Ka-29 helicopters on each of their four Mistral amphibious ships. Two of these new ships are being bought from France while another two will be built in Russia. Each 21,500 ton Mistral normally carries 16 helicopters, four landing vessels, 70 armored vehicles, and 450 troops. Russia will assign 30 helicopters to each Mistral, but only 16 will be on the ship at a time. The rest will be used for training and replacements.
The Ka-52K is a navalized version of the Ka-52 that went into production this year. In addition to being equipped with coatings to resist sea water corrosion, the K model will also have a lightweight version of the high-definition Zhuk-AE AESA radar used on jet fighters. This radar currently weighs 275 kg (605 pounds), but the helicopter version will weigh only 80 kg (176 pounds) and enables the Kh-52K to use the Kh-31 anti-ship missile. This weapon has a range of 110 kilometers and travels at high speed (about one kilometer a second.) The Kh-52K can also carry the sub-sonic Kh-31 missile, which has a range of 130 kilometers. Both of these missiles weigh about 600 kg (1,300 pounds) each.
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