On Apr. 27, 2024, a Ukrainian Yak-52 training aircraft, shot down a Russian Orlan-10 drone over Odessa, according to several reports by the Ukrainian media, in an engagement reminiscent of WWII dogfights.
Ukrainian media mentioned that the Orlan-10 was likely shot down by the copilot of the Yak-52, as the trainer aircraft lacks the capability to carry weapons. Although the aircraft in question could have been modified to operate a machine gun, the most plausible hypothesis is that the second crew member was responsible for the downing. It’s worth remembering that several countries have achieved drone shootdowns from aircraft operating at low speeds.
Some videos shared on Telegram and X show the Yak-52 circling around the drone descending towards the ground on a parachute, which most likely automatically deployed.
Machine-gunning drones from the back of a helicopter or plane saves valuable air-defense missiles. “Expending many thousands (if not millions) of dollars on each missile to eliminate an inexpensive UAV is an economically losing affair,” wrote Paul Maxwell, the deputy director of the Army Cyber Institute at the United States Military Academy in New York.
It’s especially important for the Ukrainians to save their best air-defense munitions as the wider war grinds into its third year. Ukraine still gets most of its missiles from its foreign allies, and the six-month interruption in supplies from the United States—the result of Russia-friendly Republicans in the U.S. Congress slow-walking aid legislation—means missile stocks are desperately low right now.
But the cheap anti-drone tactic isn’t necessarily easy. Consider one of the first dogfights over the European front line in World War I. “We met a German aeroplane at about the same altitude as ourselves, and about the same speed, so that we couldn’t get any closer than 600 yards,” Royal Flying Corps observer Archibald James recalled.
“I put up my sights on the service rifle to 600 yards and fired six deliberate shots, and was miserable that I didn’t apparently hit him at all,” he said. “I’ve no doubt I was miles away. We had no conception then at what close ranges it was necessary to shoot to have any effect at all.”
In other words, sniping a drone from the back of a plane requires the pilot to get really close—and the shooter to take careful aim.
Sources: Forbes; YouTube