Russian Helicopters announced last week that the Ka-62 multipurpose helicopter has been certified by the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) after three years of testing.
The medium-sized aircraft is derived from the Kamov-designed military helicopter Ka-60 that first flew in 1998.
At the beginning of the last decade, the manufacturer decided to launch the civilian version Ka-62, replacing the Russian Saturn engines with the French Ardiden, supplied by Turbomeca.
The Ka-62’s maiden flight took place in 2017 and since then three prototypes have accumulated 434 flights with a total duration of 700 hours.
“Obtaining a type certificate for the Ka-62 is an important milestone for the Russian helicopter industry. Starting next year, we plan to start large-scale series production and vehicle deliveries to Russian operators. In 2022-2024, we will work on expanding the helicopter’s operational capabilities by certifying additional equipment – external suspension, on-board winch, medical module, anti-icing system,” said Rostec, the company that controls Russian Helicopters.
The Ka-62 is a medium-sized helicopter whose 60% by weight is composed of composite materials. The main rotor and an anti-torque ducted tail rotor multi-blade T-tail configuration is quite unusual for Kamov, known for helicopters with coaxial rotors.
The new Russian helicopter has a range of 700 km and top speed is 310 km/h. The Ka-62 can carry up to 15 passengers or 2 tons of cargo.
Russian Helicopters has not revealed how many Ka-62s have been ordered so far.
