The test pilot named a means of combating maritime drones striking ships

Naval helicopters are needed to detect and destroy kamikaze boats

Unmanned vehicles have greatly changed the nature of combat operations not only on land, but also at sea. Just recently, no one could have imagined that group attacks by sea drones against individual ships would become a real threat. So are there any effective methods to combat this new threat? The test pilot who gave the Ka-50 “Black Shark” helicopter a ticket into the sky, Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Bezdetnov, believes that such means exist

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

It is unlikely that existing naval tactics textbooks considered, for example, a battle between a ship and 15-20 drones simultaneously attacking a target from different directions. Today this situation is commonplace. The bites of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ “mosquito fleet” are quite painful. Yemen's Houthis have also adopted drones when fighting US ships.

Judging by numerous videos, naval small-caliber artillery remains the most effective means of repelling drone attacks. But it is not omnipotent, especially if dozens of targets attack a single ship at night from different directions. What to do?

“We need to remember the well-forgotten old things,” says helicopter tester Nikolai Bezdetnov. — Yes, there were no drones before. But there were torpedoes and there were means to deal with the torpedo danger. These are Ka-27 naval helicopters. These helicopters are capable of tracking a large area of ​​water with locators. They have special hydroacoustic equipment, use special radio buoys, remove information from them, detect surface and underwater targets, destroy them themselves or direct aircraft at these targets.

Help «MK»

The Soviet shipborne anti-submarine helicopter Ka-27 (NATO codification Helix) made its first flight in 1973.

According to the tester, the onboard locator of the Ka-27 helicopter is capable of detecting any drone. The helicopter can fly at night, fly at low altitude — below 50 meters, and can hover over the desired point.

— That's the point, we need to restore their production. Naturally, in an updated form. There are still some in the navy, but there probably aren't many of them left. The helicopters were assembled at a plant in Ulan-Ude. By the way, this begs the question: why did they stop production? Who made this decision? If there is no way to quickly resume production, then, damn it, buy similar helicopters from the Chinese. The fleet needs them.

— The fact of the matter is that the Ka-27 differs from other helicopters in this way. It has an automatic mode, when it can hang for a long time, for hours, at a certain height. And in any weather conditions. And at the same time he works, that is, he conducts observation. Receives information from sonobuoys. I personally participated in such tests. And what about fuel when the task is to detect and destroy drones.

— In my time, I controlled the underwater situation within a radius of seven kilometers. But now, I think, there is more sensitive equipment, and the target detection range could be increased. It still depends on the tactics of use, on the number of sonar buoys.

— The Ka-27 has good anti-ship weapons, including bombs. Everything is very serious there. I can't talk about everything. I think it is possible to modify the weapon specifically to combat drones, they are smaller… For example, use aircraft cannons or heavy machine guns installed in a special container under the helicopter against kamikaze boats.

— Drones, in principle, can probably be used for these purposes. But I think the capabilities of a helicopter like the Ka-27 are much greater.

In general, when the first mass-produced unmanned aerial vehicles appeared in the 70s, I already said then that the drone is a weapon against savages. Any drone is controlled by electronics, which can be influenced by appropriate technical means. You just need to apply your intelligence and find the necessary technical solutions. That is, to influence his electronic “brains”. This is high school physics: induced parasitic currents in a wire if it is placed in a variable magnetic field. And a variable electromagnetic field is up to the developers to figure out how to provide it.