On August 7 the chief government officer of Russia’s Rostec state owned defence conglomerate Sergey Chemezov reported that manufacturing of army helicopters underneath the State Defence Order had greater than doubled, with 296 helicopters having been produced in 2022 alone in comparison with simply 134, or 55 % much less, in 2021. “Beneath state defence order the manufacturing of army helicopters has doubled… As for the helicopter business, our Russian Helicopters holding produced 296 helicopters in 2022. The final 12 months [2021] there have been 134 of them, whereas this 12 months – 296, which is a big enhance,” he said. His assertion comes as Russia has sought to considerably increase output of key defence merchandise attributable to each the necessities imposed by the continued warfare in Ukraine, and because of the rising perceived menace posed by an increasing NATO alliance at a time of excessive tensions between Moscow and the West. Russian assault helicopters have performed an more and more essential function within the warfare effort, with Mi-28 and Ka-52 assault helicopters prominently taking a heavy toll on Ukrainian armour from early June 2022 because the Ukrainian Army and accompanying paramilitaries tried to launch mass offensives in opposition to Russian positions. Assault helicopters have been answerable for destroying newly provided Western {hardware} resembling M2 Bradley combating automobiles and Leopard principal battle tanks, in addition to supporting assaults on Ukrainian ahead positions.
Though the standing of Russian defence merchandise has diminished in a number of areas for the reason that finish of the Chilly Conflict, Russian helicopters are nonetheless seen to guide the world in efficiency with the Mi-28 and Ka-52 assault helicopters having no close to peer rivals elsewhere on this planet. Each had been clear sheet designs launched after the Chilly Conflict, and had been produced on a substantial scale all through the 2010s alongside the Mi-35 – a closely enhanced spinoff of the Soviet period Mi-24. A few of the most ceaselessly launched footage from the frontlines by official Russian sources in 2023 has been of assault helicopters destroying Ukrainian armoured automobiles, with such incidences showing to extend sharply after Ukrainian offensives started in early June. To maximise effectiveness in anti armour roles a brand new missile, the Vikhr-1, was developed for the Ka-52 assault helicopter permitting it to have interaction targets from protected distances had been any potential accompanying Ukrainian air defence belongings can be much less efficient. The rising effectiveness of assault helicopters on the frontlines has been broadly credited to the speedy depletion of Ukraine’s air defence arsenals. The most recent footage, launched on August 7, confirmed a Ka-52 utilizing a guided missile to destroy a Ukrainian armoured automobile that was making an attempt to cover amid foliage within the Zaporozhye area.
