On Wednesday, Russia lost three aircraft while repelling an attack, including Ka-52 and Mi-8 helicopters, as well as a MiG-31, adding to the losses of enemy aviation. UNN explains what is known about the Ka-52 helicopter, which Russian propagandists call unique and unrivaled.
Details
The day before UNN reported, citing Russian media, that a Ka-52 attack helicopter crashed in Russia, presumably together with its crew.
Later, Russian propagandists reported that Russia had lost two more helicopters. It was claimed that these were probably Mi-8, Mi-28, and Ka-52 helicopters. According to preliminary data, the crash occurred while repelling a nighttime UAV attack. There is also a version that the helicopters were shot down by mobile fire groups or by their own aircraft using air-to-air missiles.
Three combat helicopters with their crews crashed in Russia in a single day11.11.26, 17:03
Today, November 12, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine showed the strike on the oil infrastructure of the Ust-Luga port in Russia's Leningrad region, where aircraft may also have been hit.
What is known about the "Alligator"
The Ka-52 (Hokum B according to NATO classification, also known as the "Alligator") is a Russian combat helicopter and command aircraft of army aviation. It conducts terrain reconnaissance, target designation, and coordination of the actions of a group of combat helicopters.
The aircraft is capable of striking armored and unarmored equipment, personnel, and aerial targets on the battlefield.
The first flight prototype of the Ka-52 helicopter, which received the side number 061, was converted by early November 1996 from a production Ka-50 (the 11th flight model, which had previously carried the side number 021).
On June 27, 2008, the first test flight of the first Ka-52 from the pilot batch took place at the Progress aircraft plant airfield in Arsenyev, Primorsky Krai.
It received the name "Alligator" because of its distinctive shape and appearance, which resembles the silhouette of an alligator. The helicopter has a pointed nose resembling a crocodile's mouth and a curved cockpit for two pilots that resembles the eyes of this animal.
The helicopter is armed with a 30-mm 2A42 cannon, which is also installed on ground vehicles such as the BMP-2, BMD-3, and BTR-90, and has up to 6 hardpoints.
Ka-52 with "Vikhr" air-to-ground missiles
In particular, the air-to-ground missiles include up to six Shturm-VU missiles, capable of striking targets up to 6 km away using a laser guidance system, as well as air-to-air missiles from the Igla-V system.
Ka-52 armed with a pod for S-8 unguided rockets, an external fuel tank, Vikhr ATGMs, and Ataka ATGMs
In addition, the helicopter can carry unguided S-8 rockets with a caliber of 80 mm or S-13 rockets with a caliber of 122 mm.
A Ka-52 shot down by the Armed Forces of Ukraine with additional fuel tanks and an installed S-8 pod
Losses of Russian aviation
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as of November 10, Russia had lost 356 helicopters in the war against Ukraine.
Russia lost more than 2,500 troops in one day in the war against Ukraine11.11.26, 07:44
According to confirmed data, Russia has lost 69 Ka-52 helicopters since 2022.
In particular, in March this year, soldiers of the Unmanned Systems Forces hunted down a Russian Ka-52 "Alligator" helicopter with a fiber-optic FPV drone and also destroyed the enemy crew that was attempting to evacuate.
In 2022, junior lieutenant Serhii Falatiuk, a serviceman of an anti-aircraft missile and artillery division, described how he and other soldiers managed to destroy six Russian helicopters using an old Soviet Igla system and small arms.
Also that year, soldiers of the 95th Separate Air Assault Brigade destroyed a Russian helicopter using a Stuhna-P anti-tank missile system. The very name "anti-tank" indicates that the system is intended to destroy tanks, not flying objects.
In June 2022, the 95th Brigade once again destroyed a Russian helicopter in eastern Ukraine using a British LMM Martlet MANPADS.
In addition, on February 24, 2022, the Defense Forces shot down a Ka-52 in the Kyiv region, and in March they captured a helicopter.