[4] Kamov designers believed that combining the duties of flying, navigation, target detection, and tracking could be automated to a degree that a single crew member could perform all functions.
After analysing the work of the pilot and weapons system operator in the Mil Mi-24, they concluded that during combat, one of the two crew members was often unnecessary.
[6] The following measures to enhance pilot survivability were taken:[citation needed] • The engines were placed on both sides of the airframe to prevent a single hit from destroying both engines • The helicopter could fly on a single engine in various modes • The cockpit was armored and screened with combined steel/aluminum armor and armored Plexiglas • The hydraulic steering system compartment was armored and screened • Vital units were screened by less important ones • Self-sealing fuel tanks were filled with polyurethane • Composites were used to preserve the helicopter's efficiency when its load-bearing elements are damaged • A two-contour rotor-blade spar was developed • Control rod diameter was increased by positioning most of them inside the armored cockpit • The powerplant and compartments adjacent to the fuel tanks were fire-protected • The transmission is capable of operating for 30 minutes if the oil system is damaged • The power supply systems, control circuits, etc.
were made redundant and placed on opposite sides of the airframe • Individual protection is provided to the pilot The armor consisted of spaced-aluminum plates with a total weight of more than 300 kg.
The helicopter emergency-escape system uses the K-37-800 ejection seat that was developed by the Zvezda Scientific Production Association (Chief Designer Guy Severin).
[citation needed] A model of an earlier design from around 1975 shows a two-seat aircraft with an airframe similar to that of the V-60, a pair of widely spaced downward facing vertical stabilisers, a fixed GSh-23L forward firing gun in the fuselage and two stub wings incorporating one hardpoint each and a pod containing the retractable undercarriage.
Further studies include novel features such as a variable azimuth stub wing, a biplane stub wing/canard configuration, additional fuselage hardpoints, ejecting exhaust on either side of the tail to reduce the heat signature, making the forward firing gun depressible and single seat as well as two seat configurations.
On 17 June, for the first time, test pilot Nikolay Bezdetnov performed a hover in the V-80 and on 27 July the V-80 made its maiden circuit flight.