What was old is new

There is a Romanian made plane built as a trainer and aerobatic bird called the Yakovlev (Yak)-52. They have been around a half a century, and Soviet and Russian planes trained in -52s before moving to the jet Yak-17 trainer, which is very similar in size and layout. Why talk about a 50-year old trainer? Because the Ukrainians are using them to shoot down drones.

The -52, as I mentioned, is a trainer. While stressed to +7 and -5 Gs (hence its suitability to aerobatics) it is unarmed. But – it has a rear cockpit.

The Soviet-era aircraft has been used to hunt Russian drones for some time now, with signs of success, but few details of its missions have been published.

In a recent article published by the Wall Street Journal, a Yak-52 pilot, a 56-year-old with the callsign “Maestro,” and his 38-year-old gunner, “Ninja,” describe their mission. Of the two, Maestro learned to fly before Russia’s full-scale invasion, as a hobby, while Ninja first went aloft in a plane after the current conflict began.

According to the brigade’s deputy commander, Col. Mykola Lykhatskiy, Maestro and Ninja have flown around 300 combat missions in the last year, downing “almost half” the unit’s total claimed tally of 120 drones.

Only about 11% of Russian drones make it through Ukrainian defenses.

According to the WSJ article, as well as Shahed/Geran-type long-range one-way attack drones, the Yak-52 is mainly used to tackle Russian Orlan and ZALA surveillance drones. These propeller-driven types fly at around 115 miles an hour, well within the performance envelope of the Yak, which tops out at more than 180 miles an hour.

Although these families of drones are unarmed as well, their mission is surveillance and precision ground targeting. You do NOT want one overhead, right?

Once a Russian drone is spotted on air defense sensors, the Yak is normally airborne within 15 minutes.

With no radar and apparently no other onboard sensors, the Yak-52 crew relies on radio commands from the ground to get close to the drone. From the open rear cockpit, the gunner then gets the drone in their sights, wielding a handheld gun. Typically, engagements are made from a distance of 200 to 300 feet.

Depending on the Yak crew, either rifles or shotguns are used on the drones. Ninja seems to prefer a German AR-15 variant; others in the squadrons use shotguns. Either way – hand held weapons to take out the enemies’ flying machines? That is SO 1915…

Ninja likened the process of aiming against a drone from the Yak-52 to “shooting a gun while riding a horse.” TWZ

If they have shot down half the squadrons total kills? Think I would take his opinions seriously. Bet I’d be riding that selector to full auto, though.

Another tactic in use when possible is flying close enough to use a wingtip under the drone’s  wing to force it to crash – you might remember the Royal Air Force doing that with V-1 ‘cruise missiles’ in WWII.

And then there’s that “sincerest form of flattery” – imitation.

It is worth noting that Russia, too, has attempted to develop a counter-drone solution, also based on the Yak-52, to help thwart Ukrainian long-range drone attacks. You can read more about that in our past story on the matter linked here.

Category: Russia, Ukraine