Man-portable air-defence missiles the key to scaring the Russian fighter pilots

Russian fighter aircraft and attack helicopter pilots are daily launching strike missions in eastern Ukraine in a manner that shows they are desperate to avoid western-supplied anti-air missiles. New video footage of Russia’s Ka-52 gunships and low-flying Su-25 fighter jets underline the impact US anti-air Stinger, UK Starstreak and home-grown Ukrainian missile systems have had on the battlefield. A Kamov-52 Alligator helicopter seen flying over Pervomaisk in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine is supposed to be one of the Russian air force’s most deadly gunships, similar in capability to the American Apache. However the video shows the gunship firing its payload of rockets into the air without any obvious target selected. Although using a spray of rockets like artillery fire is not uncommon, the pilot of the Ka-52 has clearly launched his weapons in an indiscriminate fashion. Unlike the Apache’s precision-guided Hellfire missiles which can be fired with accuracy at a moving vehicle, the Ka-52’s rockets fired in the video were unguided. Past videos have also shown the Ka-52 being used as a form of airborne multiple-launch rocket platform. By firing the rockets upwards the Russian pilots are seeking to extend their range but without any degree of accuracy. Fired over a city the rockets would land over a wide area without any specific target in mind, thus increasing the chances of civilian casualties. Launching rockets in this unconventional way also indicates that the Ka-52 pilot may have wanted to empty his payload of weapons in one go and then fly off to avoid being hit by man-portable Stingers or other missile systems. The Ukrainian military claim to have shot down or captured at least ten of the two-seater Ka-52 helicopters. Dozens of other Russian helicopters have been shot down. The latest video of an Su-25 fighter aircraft launching an attack in the same Luhansk region shows the jet flying at roof-top level launching multiple flares to try and evade Ukrainian anti-air defences. Stinger missiles have an infrared seeker that locks onto the aircraft’s heat source in the engine’s exhaust and can hit anything flying below 11,000ft. Decoy flares are used to counter or confuse heat-seeking missiles.