News The red star will stay

[Nerull]

It's a pretty common body plan for an attack helicopter. The Apache certainly wasn't the first with that look.

 

[simonpro]

It doesn't look anything like an Apache to be honest. It is the ugliest thing on the planet, though. I'd hate for that MOFO to be the last thing I ever see as it hurtles past spewing bullets and flames..

 

[Ghostrider]

I'd hate for that MOFO to be the last thing I ever see as it hurtles past spewing bullets and flames..

That's why you should keep a pic of Summer Glau in your breast pocket, just in case.

 

[Urwumpe]

The Ka-50 Black Shark is the more beautiful Russian attack helicopter...

 

[ar81]

By the way, it's interesting that the Red star used to symbolize "Liberation of working people from famine, war, poverty and slavery" and was colloquially called "Mars Star" in the time following its inception as the emblem of the Red Army in 1918.

Probably someone did not like the idea of confusing the russian craft with invader vehicles from Mars.

But seriously speaking, it looks weird.

 

[Artlav]

The Ka-50 Black Shark is the more beautiful Russian attack helicopter...
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A couple better pictures:

 

[Brad]

The Ka-50 Black Shark is the more beautiful Russian attack helicopter...

Interesting design.... I'm curious, what would prompt a "star" change?

 

[SiberianTiger]

It sure strikes me funny how close they both look alike.

Most gunships of the '80 generation look alike. This is AW129:
http://www.army-technology.com/projects/agusta/agusta1.html

---------- Post added at 23:12 ---------- Previous post was at 23:06 ----------

Interesting design.... I'm curious, what would prompt a "star" change?

Everybody is wondering. A kind of change in the symbolizm behind the emblem? The new meaning should be something like "We aren't that outright red anymore"?..

 

[Andy44]

The red star was a symbol of the Soviet Union, which no longer exists, right? It would be like Italy using a Roman imperial banner, wouldn't it?

At least the newest version looks a lot better than the one in the first post. From a distance it still looks like a plain red star.

 

[Brad]

The red star was a symbol of the Soviet Union, which no longer exists, right? It would be like Italy using a Roman imperial banner, wouldn't it?

Didn't this like happen almost 15+ years ago? You would thing that by now that if they were going to change it would of done it back then?

 

[Andy44]

Don't ask me, I don't live there. It just seems like the most logical reason.

 

[SiberianTiger]

The red star was a symbol of the Soviet Union, which no longer exists, right? It would be like Italy using a Roman imperial banner, wouldn't it?

More precisely, the red star was the symbol of the Red Army of Workers and Peasants (as it used to be called between 1918 and 1946) and the Soviet Army's afterwards. It formally stopped existing in 1991, and the newly formed Russian Armed Forces inherited all the heraldic attributes of the former Army. They had been gradually replaced since 1992, most of the changes happened about the year 2000.

However, the red star still had been the public symbol associated with the army all along. The only possibly rivaling symbol is the naval "Andrew's" flag. I believe the star will persist in this role anyway, even if the aircraft insignia are changed. Can't really dwell much on why, here.

---------- Post added at 01:35 ---------- Previous post was at 01:29 ----------

P.S. And also, many decorate tops of Christmas trees with one. Me, for instance.

 

[Brad]

Interesting.. a Red star on the Christmas tree.

 

[Andy44]

Ironic, too, given the USSR's position on religion.

 

[SiberianTiger]

According to the latest news, the Federation Council (the upper house of Russian Parliament) have rejected the amendments to the Air Code of RF which included the change in the national markings on the military airplanes and helicopters of Russia. These amendments had been formerly approved by the State Duma, the lower house.

As Sergey Mironov, the Speaker of the Federation Council said, "We cannot offend the memory of our fathers who fought and gained the victory in the World War II with the red stars on their wings, and especially we can't do that days before the Victory Day".

Hurray!!!

 

[Brad]

AH....there we go... the ole Russia that I remember!

 

[Dickie]

It sure strikes me funny how close they both look alike.

I once made a similar comment as a joke in an aircraft recognition lecture to our rather enthusiastic instructor...never again! Some people it seems, can talk for hours about the differences

Good to see the star isn't going, lots of history behind it and it looks good; what more do you need?!