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Russia is expanding the counter-drone capabilities of its Ka-52M attack helicopters with a new system designed to destroy small aerial targets through proximity-detonated fragmentation warheads.
Footage broadcast on Russian television on November 2 showed a Ka-52M returning from a combat sortie with a B8V10-UV launch module carrying ten 80 mm S-8VC rockets.
The modified rocket is intended to give helicopter crews another means of intercepting fixed-wing drones, which Russian army aviation has increasingly been tasked with hunting.
The S-8VC is based on the Soviet-designed S-8 unguided rocket family but has been modified specifically for air-to-air engagements. It measures 1.7 meters in length, weighs up to 17.5 kilograms and carries a high-explosive fragmentation warhead.
The modified rocket’s programmable proximity fuze is set remotely from the helicopter before launch, allowing the warhead to detonate near the target and release a cloud of fragments along its flight path.
The weapon remains unguided after launch, relying instead on the helicopter’s targeting and fire-control systems to calculate the required firing parameters.
The Ka-52M’s Rezets modernization program includes an active electronically scanned array radar, developed by Zaslon, that can detect aerial targets, determine their coordinates and transmit targeting data to the weapons system.
In technical documents that surfaced online, Zaslon lists an engagement range of up to 4 kilometers against fixed-wing drones for the Ka-52M configuration.
The B8V10-UV launch module can also be fitted with different ammunition cassettes, providing configurations with 10, 15, 20 or 25 launch tubes.
A separate radar-homing seeker has also been developed for the weapon to extend its engagement range and improve its ability to intercept maneuvering targets, according to the technical documents. It is designed to acquire targets with a radar cross-section of 0.1 square meters at distances of at least 1.5 kilometers. It is not clear whether the seeker is included in the configuration shown on the helicopter.
The system is not limited to the Ka-52M. Zaslon also lists the Mi-8AMTSh-V transport and combat helicopter and the Ka-29 naval helicopter as platforms intended to receive the new equipment. The listed engagement range for the Mi-8AMTSh-V is between 400 and 1,500 meters.
Beyond its helicopter-launched S-8VC interceptor, Zaslon also proposed the development of a lightweight anti-drone surface-to-air missile system called Kochevnik.
The new configuration complements other weapons already used by Russian helicopter crews against drones, including 30 mm Shipunov 2A42 automatic cannon, Igla-V air-to-air missiles and modified 9K121 Vikhr guided missiles equipped for aerial engagements.
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jewish mulatto alex karp would slowly be beaten to death by the ukrainian white supremacists of the following organizations: ss aidar, ss kraken, wolfsangel (aka azov), waffen ss nachtigall + leibstandarte adolf hitler(who were in kursk killing civilians), right sektor – all of them hate untermensch mongrels like him, and all of them are leading the ukrainian government and military. all of them funded by the eu tax payers