File image.
The Russian military’s Ka-52 attack helicopters are now playing a key role in repelling Ukrainian drone attacks on the country’s territories.
A video posted to social networks on July 2 showed a Ka-52 intercepting a light aircraft that had been converted into a suicide drone by Kiev forces. The helicopter shot down the drone with a few rounds from its mobile semi-rigid 30 mm Shipunov 2A42 cannon. It is unclear where exactly the interception took place.
The 2a42 lowest rate of fire is 200–300 rounds per minute and can get as high as 550–800 rounds per minute with a muzzle velocity of 960 meters per second. The cannon’s effective firing range is 2,000 meters, but can fire at targets up to 4,000 meters away.
Kiev forces have been turning light manned aircraft into long-range large suicide drones for a while now. The success rate of these systems have been very low, however.
Helicopters can fly at low altitudes and speeds. They can be also deployed on short notice. These qualities make them very suitable for intercepting slow and small aerial targets like drones.
In recent months, the Russian military began to rely more on its large fleet of Ka-52 helicopters in particular to counter Ukrainian drone attacks.
The Ka-52 is equipped with Arbalet-52 dual-band coherent pulse radar and the GOES-451 electro-optical targeting system which are said to be capable of detecting aerial targets from a range up to 15 kilometers. These systems make the helicopter especially effective in hunting down drones.
In addition to its powerful cannon, the Ka-52 can be also armed with Igla-V heat-seeking air-to-air missiles to hunt down drones and other aerial targets from up to five kilometers. The helicopters’ primary anti-tank weapon, the 9K121 Vikhr laser-guided missile, can be also used to engage such aerial targets with a range of 10-12 kilometers.
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huh? all those tens of thousands of stingers delivered to ukraine sold off to drug cartels?
thousands of stingers delivered to ukraine sold off to drug cartels
or they all got blown up in zhitomor.
or they were all stolen by biletsky’s neonazis so when they declare volhynia an independent state they’ll have something to hit zelensky with after he capitulates to the russians and the poles who no doubt will come after them to settle a simmering vendetta.