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Russia Ukraine: You Decide! ·
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Martin Wilson

Sun
‘Isn’t It Time To Shoot Him Down?’ Russians Grow Frustrated With Ukraine’s Yak-52 Drone-Killer.

A Russian drone operator's view of the Ukrainian Yak-52 and its
back-seat gunner.

RUSSIAN MILITARY CAPTURE

Russians are getting really fed up with the Ukrainian crew of that
Yakovlev Yak-52 training plane that has been dogfighting with, and
shooting down, Russian surveillance drones—World War I-style.

In three months, two aviators riding in a Yak-52—a front-seat pilot and
a back-seat gunner—have taken out at least 12 Russian drones, if you
believe the kill markings the crew has painted on the side of the
1970s-vintage plane.

“Isn’t it time to shoot him down?” one Russian blogger wrote.

The problem for the Russians is that a Yak-52 is hard to knock down for
the same reason it’s an effective platform for a shotgun-armed crew
member taking potshots at nearby drones. The Yakovlev is robust and inconspicuous.

A propeller-driven Yak-52 doesn’t paint a very big picture on the radar screens of Russia’s beleaguered long-range air defense batteries. And
even if you damage a Yak-52 by, say, ramming it with a drone—the crew
could probably still land the plane.

Earlier this month, another Russian blogger complained about the Yak-52
crew “firing at our UAVs like it’s a shooting gallery” over the city of Odesa in southern Ukraine.

It wasn’t a new problem. Apparently searching for an efficient method of eliminating $100,000 Russian drones without firing a $4-million Patriot
missile or some other pricey air defense munition, back in April the
Ukrainians began taking to the air in that Yak-52, maneuvering to within shotgun range of intruding drones—and blasting them out of the air.

It worked so well that, earlier this month, the Ukrainian intelligence directorate began training gunners to hunt Russian unmanned aerial
vehicles from locally-made Aeroprakt A-22 sport planes. The Yakovlev
crew’s successful hunts have inspired a whole new anti-drone tactic.

The Russians are losing patience as their losses pile up. “The Yak-52
flew over Odessa and with high efficiency shot down our reconnaissance
UAVs for a week, causing laughter in some circles,” the blogger wrote. “This has not been funny to UAV operators and us for a long time.”

But it’s not clear what the Russian military can do about the Yak-52.
Its patrol zone is at least 50 miles from the nearest Russian position.
But the closest Russian air defense batteries are probably much farther
away, as Ukrainian drone and missile raids continue to deplete their
numbers and drive them farther from the front line.

In any event, a Yak-52 might be tough to detect. One 1976 study found
that a Cessna 172—a propeller plane similar to a Yak-52 in size and shape—presents a radar cross-section of less than a square meter from
certain angles. That’s a quarter the radar cross-section of a typical
fighter jet.

The Russian operators of the very drones the Yak-52 crew has been
hunting could try to ram the Ukrainian plane. It wouldn’t be
unprecedented. On many occasions in Russia’s 28-month wider war on
Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian crews have downed enemy drones by running
their own drones into them.

But it’s one thing for two drones each weighing just a few pounds to
tangle in mid-air: either could destroy the other. But smash a 20-pound
ZALA surveillance drone into a 1.5-ton Yak-52 and the damage might not
be catastrophic.


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Jon Frazier
· Mon
Very clever. A slow but agile 2 seater plane that most pilots can fly is
ideal for drone pinking. Maybe someone is drafting out an anti drone
super tocano. Ukraines bravery and intelligence is admirable, the free
world needs to continue to support them.

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Paul Farmer
· 22h
Those little stunt planes they use at air shows would make great little
planes for jobs like this. Really small and extremely agile and really fast.

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Robert B
· 13h
Remember they need a pilot and a passenger who can shoot a shotgun. Tiny aerobatic planes only have a pilot.

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Paul Farmer
· 2h
True. Don't they have two seat versions to take people up in flight?
They are able to experience a little of what stunt flier experience. A
much less strenuous experience, given at air shows. That was the type of
plane I was thinking of more.

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Michał Jastrzębski
· Mon
A super tucano is one thing but what if they take one of their long
range drone aircraft, and put a remote turret on it?

Wouldnt be unplausible…

Joe Smith
· Mon
The Yak 52 is quite a remarkable plane, capable of aerobatics, , can
land wheels up and not damage anything but the propeller tips . Simple
and reliable with a 360 hp radial engine. What a great way to use it
against Russian drones ! I’m impressed . God bless Ukraine 🇺🇦 , may they defeat the evil invaders very soon !

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Clint Hardwood
· Mon
Only in Russia… they complain because someone you are shooting at shoots back.

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Jim Corolewski
· 23h
Isn’t it incredible that Russia complains about Ukraine “escalating” the war that Russia started by invading them!!!!!

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Chris Jones
· Mon
this is hilarious, when they add a bunch more of these to the skies one
of them should draw the dog from duck hunt on the side of the plane.

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Merkit
· 23h
when they add a bunch more of these No, they cannot add more unless NATO
sends them a few of similar planes.

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Eric Kern
· 18h
Seems as though Ukraine has some pretty nifty ways of coming up with
obtaining these items by there own means necessary. I applaud that
country for the tenacity and dedication they have shown through this
whole ordeal. Even with their backs against the ropes they continue the
fight!!

SLAVAA UKRAINE 🇺🇦

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Simon
· 7h
Noooo! It’s not happening, it’s false news, it won’t work! please stop! Sobs Merkit while scurrying under his bridge.

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Nigel Arnot
· Mon
What's the radar cross section of an engine? For the rest they could go
back to WW1 technology. Wood, canvas, string, and new-fangled plastics
for the fuel tank.

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John Jones
· Mon
Maybe start playing Snoopy and the Red Baron while sport hunting the drones…


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Shane Pickup
· Mon
bring back biplanes, slow but very manoeuvrable

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Jon Frazier
· Mon
Joking aside, slow is good for that role. Tiger Moths on standby.

Shane Pickup
how smashing giggles
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Terry Steen
· 9h
Like the film “Sink the Bismark” a Swordfish biplane might be even better?

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JJM
· Mon
Ukranian creativity at work AGAIN with the Yak-52!

When the war started, I thought military academies around the world
would be studying this war for years.

The more it progresses, I think it will be studied for decades.

There haven´t been too many wars with so much creativity shown for
decades (on both sides - although UA is in a class of its own).

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