Shocked raiders

Novyevropa understands why the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the counterattack increasingly destroy Russian shock helicopters

In recent weeks, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are increasingly publishing data on the downed Russian helicopters. The latter such news came today, June 23. The Ukrainian media talk about the fact that in just four days, from June 17 to 20, the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to destroy four Ka-52 Alligator. Novyevropa is versed in how often Russia began to use shock helicopters at the front and why it loses more and more.

They shot down up to a third

According to the Ukrainian side, from February 24, 2022, the Armed Forces managed to destroy more than 300 Russian helicopters out of about 900 in the Russian army at the beginning of the invasion. The Russian side does not voice its losses. And the analytical project of ORYX, calculating the losses of technology based on these photo and video recording, writes about 91 lost (destroyed, damaged and captured by the enemy) Russian rotor-winged machine, 48 of which are modern KA-52 and Mi-28 shock helicopters.

The Russian helicopter, Dmitry Mishov, who crossed the West, said in an interview with the Russian BBC service that during the war his regiment lost almost 20% of helicopters. If earlier they were “40-50” in the regiment, then over the past year two burned with the efforts of saboteurs and six more or seven were shot down at the front. “The losses among the pilots are large,” said Dmitry Mishov. - If we compare, say, with Afghanistan, I know that there were 333 helicopters. And we have repeated for ten years in a year. ”

An important remedy

“For Russia, helicopters today are an important means of combating the Ukrainian offensive,” a former employee of the Israeli special services and police Sergei Migdal tells the New Year. - In conditions of active hostilities, losses are practically inevitable. And Russia loses and has already lost a significant number of its military helicopters. Judging by the data we have, the Russian command laid the main load in fire contact with the enemy on the Ka-52 Alligator. Equipment is installed on these machines that allows you to work in the dark. Mi-28 "Night Hunter" is not so advanced, and it is more difficult to use them at night. " When working in conditions of darkness, a helicopter is a much more difficult goal for attacks from the Earth. In particular, it is more difficult to use portable anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS) on it.

According to the Israeli expert, and the Ka-52 Alligator, and the Mi-28 Night Hunter, and even the outdated Mi-24 crocodile with the latest modification of the Mi-35 are extremely effective tools for damage to armored vehicles and manpower of the enemy. Some missiles used by these shock helicopters can destroy the target at a distance of 10 km. And the anti -tank missile system (PTRK) "WHR" exterminates tanks at a distance of 8 km. For comparison, in Israel, an anti -tank guided missile with a range of 35 km has been developed and is in service. It starts from the Apachi strike helicopter.

“Recently, Russia has become more and more often used by helicopters,” the military observer of the Russian BBC service Pavel Aksyonov tells the Novo-Europe. - On one of the resources where video recordings of the use of aviation are laid out, it was from the beginning of the Ukrainian offensive that the number of videos using Russian shock helicopters increased sharply. If earlier on the video that appeared on social networks, they more often shot with a convertible (convertible is a flight of a plane or helicopter with a set of heights and a nose lifted above the horizon - approx. Ed. ) In the direction of the enemy Nursy, now, judging by open sources, the “turntables” are more used to combat armored vehicles. To do this, they use anti -tank missiles. At the limiting distance of the Vortex rocket, for example, it flies up to 30 seconds. All this time, the helicopter must keep the laser mark on the target in order to ensure target designation for the ATGM. It is best to hang for this. This makes a helicopter potentially more vulnerable to strike from the ground. ”

“Helicopters are used at extremely small altitudes-up to 30 meters,” says Roman Svitan, a colonel of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, “where radars cannot be detected in reserve. It is extremely difficult to work at such altitudes. We need highly professional pilots. There are very few of them left. And the “turntable” goes under a locator ray at a speed of 250-300 km/h, freezes, aims and strikes with all its weapons. Therefore, the Russians use them.

The Russian Ka-52 with the Air-Earth missiles is called 10 km by "murderers of tanks." It was these four cars that have been shot down by the Armed Forces of Ukraine over the past four days. ”

According to Roman Svitan, the task of shock helicopters is to support the air of ground units and work against enemy armored vehicles. Moreover, it is necessary to avoid the zone of action of MANPADS. However, according to Svitan, it was from portable anti-aircraft missile systems that all the last Russian helicopters were shot down. Now at the front, Ukrainian troops are moving forward quickly and often find themselves in the territory where the enemy does not wait for them to meet.

“I flew on the Mi-24 for more than 100 hours,” says Roman Svitan. - It is very difficult to retrain from the fighter’s pilot to a helicopter. Good helicopters are as rare, piece goods as pilots. For the preparation of one crew, years are leaving. And they are more dangerous and more difficult to perform combat missions. The helicopter, like the tank, is a consumable in the war. He has a coefficient of survivability, his own time of life on the battlefield. Russia had more than a hundred Ka-52, so they are still actively used. It is more important whether the helicopter managed to complete the task. Conditionally: if the helicopter burned four tanks and was shot down, then he died beautifully! ”

“In order for anti -tank guided missiles from a large distance to work, you need a straight line of vision either radio beam or laser,” the Russian military pilot expresses his opinion, asking not to be called his name. - Therefore, you need to fly closer, or gain a large height and fall under the enemy radar. From the convertible, we shoot uncontrollable missiles - Nurses. Moreover, there is no accuracy, since they have very high dispersion, especially at a high range. And what prevents the fighter from the MANPADS “Bird” to skip over himself and release the rocket after him? They beat us - in the side or in the tail. "

Danger from the Earth

A helicopter is to a much greater extent than an attack aircraft or a bomber, vulnerable to heavy machine guns, automatic guns and even enemy small arms. In order to launch uncontrollable missile shells (Nurs, or NAR - an unguided aviation missile, often a reduced analogue of the Grad system), the helicopter has to be taken closer to its target and “bounce” to a certain height, opening fire from convertible. During the volley, the car continues to freeze or move at extremely low speed. At this moment, it becomes an excellent target not only for the means of air defense and PZRK, but also for ordinary weapons, such as large -caliber machine guns and manual grenade launchers. Therefore, helicopters prefer more than 3-4 km from a distance to the enemy, which in combat is a maximum distance for the work of the majority of MANPADS.

Ukraine claims to be shot down by Russian helicopters, but not the fact that they are all really destroyed. Firstly, in order to say exactly about the numbers, you need either a video confirmation or data of the opposite side. But, in addition, helicopters also have a supply of survivability. “Recently, for example, a video appeared on which the Ka-52 Alligator with an interrupted tail beam is returning to the base,” recalls Pavel Aksyonov. - A helicopter of a classic scheme with such damage would crash, but the “alligator” has a coaxial location of the screws, and even such a serious hit could not lead to its crash. But this is only one case. "

“Ukrainians can hunt helicopters with the help of anti-aircraft missile systems, such as IRIS-T (Small and Middle-Range air defense systems that affect the target at a distance of up to 40 km) or the Soviet Buk,” continues Sergey Migdal. - But Ukraine has few such systems, and they are required to cover cities and large military facilities.

Another well -established option for attacking helicopters is the method of using sabotage groups of special operations for troops, which using the Stinger MANPADS

Or, they arrange such ambushes on a rotorcraft flying or returning from tasks in the depths of enemy territory. Such DRGs go to the rear beyond the front line and track the paths that Russian helicopters most often use. ”

Roman Svitan says that almost all MANPADS - the Polish “Perun”, the American “Stinger”, the British “Starstrik” and others - have approximately equal characteristics and are able to hit the target at a distance of 5 km.

The media reported that one of the Ka-52 shot down in April, according to the Ukrainian side, was the victim of the Polish MANPADS "Perun".

“Ukraine obviously lacks mobile military air defense systems to cover up the advancing troops,” says Pavel Aksyonov. - The Armed Forces of Ukraine have army air defense systems with a range exceeding 10 km, but this is not enough to protect the advancing forces from air strikes. And the radius of the action of numerous portable air defense systems is not enough to guaranteed to amaze helicopters that produce ATGMs at the limiting range. At the same time, anti -aircraft complexes themselves are a priority target for artillery and other means of enemy defeat. It can be assumed that in the nearest supply packages there will be more air defense systems with a range of more than 10 km. Only in this way, Ukraine will be able to fight Russian helicopters for lack of fighters. ”

Fighter - helicopter killer

Roman Svitan is convinced that fighters would be the final solution to the problem of Russian helicopters for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the expert, as soon as the F-16 is transmitted, there are simply no helicopters on the front line and close to it.

When Ukraine has the right number of F-16 fighters, this can fundamentally change the advantage of forces. Sunning a helicopter for a fighter is a very simple task. American planes, among other weapons, carry the AIM-120 Amraam supersonic missiles, capable of hitting “turntables” at a distance of 40 km. They can patrol their part of the front and very quickly go to the target, which invaded airspace controlled by them. There is nowhere to hide in the Ukrainian steppe. Obtaining a significant amount of F-16 would actually help create a useless zone to a great depth of Russian positions. But the question with the transfer of fighters is still hanging in the air.

Since Ukrainian troops are now advancing, Russian helicopters manage to sheltered from a safe distance from the depths of their territory, which do not protect their own air defense.

“But we generally observe a very strange offensive,” explains Sergey Migdal, “in which the attacking side does not have the advanced over the overpass three to four times. Kyiv urgently requires additional supplies of various air defense systems. But many NATO countries have already provided them with everything that is possible from their reserves. And then the generals who are alarming do not allow to devastate the reserves. No wonder the United States is in no hurry to share even part of their very rich reserves of tanks and various air defense systems. ”

Russian-Ukrainian cooperation

The production of shock helicopters, according to Sergei Migdal, is not assasial. Such devices are produced singlely. Until recently, turbines were supplied by the Ukrainian company Motor Sich. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), indeed, detained Vyacheslav Boguslaev in October last year of the president of this enterprise on suspicion of cooperation with Russia. Investigators suggested that the leadership of the plant in collusion with representatives of the Russian Corporation Rostec established transnational channels for the supply of Ukrainian aircraft engine to Russia. In the future, these engines and spare parts were used to produce and repair Russian shock helicopters: Mi-8AMTSh-UNSAN (modification for special forces), KA-52 Alligator and Mi-28N Night Hunter. As far as is known, the import substitution of engines among helicopter manufacturers is very unsuccessful. Sergei Migdal believes that until recently, enterprises used the stock of Ukrainian details accumulated in advance.