In the age of jet fighters, Ukraine is reverting to almost 50-year-old propeller aircraft to combat slow-flying Russian reconnaissance drones, news portal portfolio reports.
The Ukrainians are using an extremely old aircraft, first flown in 1976, which was developed in the Soviet Union by the famous Yakovlev Design Bureau. The two-seat, propeller-driven aircraft has been used for training purposes for most of its history and most certainly few envisaged it would ever be used to hunt unmanned drones.
According to the above footage, allegedly taken in the Odessa area, Ukraine is now using the Yak-52 for combat purposes and actively attacking Russian Orlan-10 reconnaissance drones. The footage also shows the first recorded hit.
There have been previous examples of the combat use of the Yak-52 training aircraft in the air force of Abkhazia, which seceded from Georgia, with the country equipping the aircraft with machine guns.
The Hungarian Air Force also once used Yak-52s, but they were withdrawn from service in 2017.
