Ka-52M Super Alligator - Pictures
The upgradeded Ka-52M was introduced into operationals service in early 2023. Possibly as few as a dozen aircraft were airworthy at that time. While there is little doubtt hat the M variant represents an improvement over the baseline aircraft, the external features that distiguish the new model were initially in doubt. Possibly there are no readily visible external differences, despite material differences in electronics and weapons load out. Possibly there are functional elements that were trialed on the baseline variant, and habitually present on the upgraded version. For some strange reason, official Russian sources have not been eager to settle this question. Contractor and government sources are under no obligation to properly label courtesy photos. Photo editors and phtographers are not among the highest paid workers in the journalistic enterprise, and cannot be expected to always drill down to guarantee that the photograph accurately and precisely reflects the caption, as "good enough for government work" is frequentlly good enough, and who wuld be the siers, or really care.
As of mid-2023 it was believed that one clear distincion of the upgraded Ka-52M variant is the presence of three weapons pylons on each stub wing, versus two on the bseline varsion. A large targetting pod to support the Izdeliye 305 LMUR ATGM seems to be frequently present, though pictures with helicopters mounting this missile seem scarce. Possiblly the OES "Samshit-E" electro-optical ball on the baseline variant has differences from the GOES-451 multi-channel sighting ball, but such variations [if any] are not vivid and would seldom be visible in any event. Obvious interpretation keys such as the mast mounted MMW radar on the AH-64D Apache are evidently absent.
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