Rifles, shotguns, World War I tactics and 1970s training aircraft Yak-52: How Ukraine is destroying Russian drones

Many innovative strategies have been employed in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war which has been going on since late February 2022. The war saw the first large-scale use of surveillance and armed drones following by measures to counter them. Following Russian drone barrages, Ukraine went back into history to learn how to shoot down the slow-moving aerial threat.

Armed with rifles, shotguns and flying in a trainer aircraft which first flew in 1976, the Ukrainian forces are hunting down Russian drones. Having modified the Yakovlev Yak-52 twin-seater, propeller powered training aircraft, Ukraine's pilots have employed World War I tactics to hunt Russian drones.

Once a Russian drone attack is confirmed, the Ukrainian forces do not usually deploy their much-advanced and famous air defense systems like the US-supplied Patriot missile system or the F-16 Fighting Falcons combat jets. Instead, the Yak-52 takes off straight into the swarm with its two-member crew within 15 minutes of the scramble. While one pilots the plane, the other tries to shoot down the drones using a rifle or a shotgun.


According to a The Wall Street Journal report, Ukraine has modified several Yak-52 to combat Russian drones. These modifications include the addition of fixed gun mounts, sensor turrets and even electronic warfare systems to track drones.

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Ukraine's 11th Army Aviation Brigade is at the forefront of the anti-drone battle and its pilots use the propeller-driven planes to spot the Russian aerial threat before using shotguns and rifles to bring them down. The WSJ report claims the unit's deputy commander Colonel Mykola Lykhatskiy stated that the Yak-52s have shot down 120 Russian drones.

Designed and developed as a training aircraft, the Yak-52 lacks radar or night flying capabilities, limiting their usage to day time operations. The pilot uses radio communication with ground-based radar operators to locate drones before going in for the kill. Once the location is confirmed, the pilot brings the plane to within 200 to 300 feet of the drone allowing the gunner to take aim and fire the bullets to down the threat.

The planes have been used to shoot down reconnaissance drones like Orlan-10/30 and Zala 421-16E as well as armed ones like Shahed-136.

One of the rifles used by the Yak-52 crew is Germany's Haenel MK 556. The fully automatic rifle is in NATO calibre 5.56 x 45 and is gas-operated. The other strategy Yak-52 crew employs is more innovative. It involves using the Yak's wing tips to hit the drone and make them go out of control and crash into the ground.

Russian drone-slayer Yak-52 features

Designed by Russia's JSC A.S. Yakovlev Design Bureau, the Yak-52 first took to the skies in 1976, during the height of the Cold War. Both civilian sport and military pilots were trained on them. Production of the Yak-52 ended in 1998 but many planes are still in service, primarily in Russia, Ukraine and erst-while Warsaw Pact countries.

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Powered by a 268 kW (360 hp) Vedeneyev M14P nine-cylinder radial engine, the Yak-52 has tandem seating facility. It sports a two-bladed V-530TA-D35 constant-speed propeller on its nose tip and can carry 122 liters (32 US gallon) of fuel. With a length of 7.745 meters (25 feet 5 inch), the plane has a wingspan of 9.30 m (30 ft 6 in) and is 2.70 m (8 ft 10 in) tall.

Its maximum speed is 285 km/h (177 mph, 154 kn) at sea level and a flying range of 550 km (340 mi,) at 500 m, an ideal height at which to hunt drones. The plane's service ceiling is 4,000 m (13,000 ft) and it is capable of handling g limits of +7/-5.