Decades-old aircraft
Ukrainian training aircraft becomes a drone hunter
26.06.2024, 08:25 a.m.
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In Ukraine, everything that can be used to combat Russian drones is being used. An old Soviet training aircraft is being used behind the front line for this purpose – and has an astonishing kill record.
The lack of air defense against Russian missiles and drones has led to curious solutions: Ukraine has been using a Yak-52 training aircraft for drone defense for some time. And the twin-engine propeller plane seems to be developing into a drone hunter, as the US portal The Warzone reported. The two or three aircraft are apparently increasingly being deployed in the south of Ukraine, far behind the front.
In an image that appeared on X, the Yak-52 is painted in camouflage colors with markings that suggest remarkable success in combating unmanned aerial vehicles. On one side of the aircraft, two Zala 421-16E and six Orlan-10/30 drones are painted in yellow. These were probably shot down by the Yak-52.
The training aircraft itself does not have its own on-board gun. Presumably a gunner equipped with a light machine gun sits in the rear seat in the cockpit – similar to aircraft in the early days of the First World War.
Yak-52 is reminiscent of Soviet post-war fighters
The Zala 421-16E is a drone that is mainly used for surveillance. The Orlan-10/30 are among the most commonly used Russian drones in Ukraine. The smaller Orlan-10 and the larger Orlan-30 are also mainly used for surveillance and target acquisition.
Two other drones are also recorded, but they are crossed out in red: an Orlan-10/30 and a Mohajer-6 made in Iran. A cormorant and a thundercloud are painted under the two unmanned aerial vehicles. It is speculated that the Yak-52 may have been present when the two drones fell victim to a cormorant and a thunderstorm, respectively. However, there is no evidence for this.
The Yak-52 is based on the single-seat Yak-50 aerobatic aircraft and was designed in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. The first flight took place in 1976. The design is reminiscent of early Soviet post-war fighters. By the mid-1990s, more than 1,800 units had been manufactured. The maximum speed is 470 kilometers per hour and the maximum flight time is 2.5 hours. The aircraft’s fuel and oil system enables inverted flight for up to two minutes.