Yak-52 Kill Marks Hint At Success In Ukraine’s Drone War
Yak-52 Kill Marks Hint At Success In Ukraine’s Drone War
For the first time, a Ukrainian Yak-52 propeller-driven trainer has appeared with markings that could indicate a string of aerial victories against Russian drones.
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Reports so far indicate that the Yak-52 carries a gunner in the rear cockpit, who takes aim on drones using some kind of infantry weapon, likely a light machine gun.
Prop planes engaging in gun combat hasn't been much of a thing since WW2, aside from some sporadic incidents using World War-era hardware:
The last dogfight between propeller airplanes happened in Central America
In 1969, Honduras and El Salvador fought a brief but explosive war that lasted 100 hours.
But it may make a lot of sense in the context of countering UAVs.
The qualifier of propellor-driven-ness aside, gun kills were very much a thing through the Vietnam War, and there are recorded gun kills from modern aircraft in the 90s (an A-10 downed an Iraqi Mi-8 with its 30mm in 1991, and Venezuelan F-16s are recorded knocking down prop-driven recon and close air support aircraft with their 20mm cannons in 1992. It's only been relatively recently that missiles and IFF systems have become reliable enough to obviate the need for dogfighting capabilities and weapon systems.
If anything, standout thing here is the kills being achieved by a backseater with an assault rifle of some variety. "Lean out of the cockpit and shoot your service weapon at the other guy" aerial combat hasn't been in vogue since the earliest days of World War 1, but given the low speed and predictable flight profiles of the drones these guys are targeting, it's not a bad choice.
The modified crop duster suddenly gets much more interesting.
Mount the 20mm cannons, add in some modernized targeting software able to detect and hit the small drones. Stage them on small runways all around the country. You also have a ton of very experienced pilots around the world who are by definition, fucking crazy.
Drones in a lot of ways resemble post WWI or early WWII aircraft - slow speed (not jet powered) and so what worked back then still works. Will drones move to high speed jet powered aircraft or remain slow speed - that is an open question (and a mix might be correct), only time will tell.