Russia Testing Shotgun-Armed Yak-52 Trainer Aircraft To Down Ukrainian Drones

Yahoo

19-05-2025

Russia has followed Ukraine's lead in adapting the propeller-driven Yak-52 primary training aircraft as an ad-hoc drone-killer. The Yak-52B2 includes a sensor turret to help detect long-range one-way attack drones and has a shotgun mounted under the wing for shooting them down. While it appears that Ukrainian Yak-52s have had some success in the counter-drone role, the appearance of the Yak-52B2 provides more evidence of the pressure that Ukrainian drone strikes are placing on Russia's traditional air defenses.
A Russian design bureau has developed modernized Yak-52 into the Yak-52B2 for countering UAVs. The aircraft are equipped with 12 gauge shotguns, a radar, and a computer for targeting information and day / night operations.https://t.co/bPOyrB9UMz pic.twitter.com/dT9UHlOyLq
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) May 18, 2025
The first photos and details about the Yak-52B2, described by Russian sources as a 'drone fighter,' recently appeared on social media. It's unclear which company was responsible for developing this modification of the primary trainer, but unconfirmed accounts suggest it was 'one of the experimental design bureaus specializing in aircraft construction.'
Video of a Yak-52B2 and a Saiga shotgun underneath the wing.https://t.co/tXlRTUyICchttps://t.co/qVZLYTwcSf pic.twitter.com/BGNrAY1y2i
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) May 18, 2025
The modified Yak-52B2 has a sensor turret under the left wing, which is said to be able to operate in air-to-air, air-to-ground, and, reportedly, weather-avoidance modes. Under the right wing is a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun. Shotguns of different types have been widely employed to counter drones by both sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, although these are notably short-range weapons for any kind of air-to-air application, but more on that in a minute. Overall, the aircraft is said to be able to carry a payload of 90 kilograms (198 pounds) under each wing.
Other equipment is said to include an onboard fire-control computer, which generates targeting information, while a navigation system allows operations at night and in poor weather.
Reports from Russian military bloggers suggest that the Yak-52B2 was developed after previous experiments using the U.S.-designed Cessna 172 four-seat propeller aircraft and the Yak-18T four/five-seat propeller utility aircraft. According to these accounts, the Yak-52 was selected due to its performance and the fact that larger numbers of these airframes are widely available in Russia.
Notably, it's claimed that the Yak-52B2 is intended to defeat both purpose-designed long-range one-way attack drones like the AN-196 Liutyi, as well as propeller aircraft that have been adapted to operate pilotless and deliver explosive payloads onto targets deep within Russia, such as the Aeroprakt A-22 ultralight.
Ukrainian 'Lutyi' kamikaze drones being prepped for a combat mission. pic.twitter.com/5tcmfiVY1n
— Special Kherson Cat
(@bayraktar_1love) May 13, 2025
There are also claims that the counter-drone modification was based on the experience of the Yak-52B light attack aircraft that was developed in the Soviet era, for use in the Afghan war.
The Yak-52B was built for counterinsurgency work and was first tested in 1982 with an armament of UPK-23 23mm gun pods and UB-32 pods for 57mm unguided rockets on pylons under a strengthened wing. An optical sight was also fitted, but the aircraft was never produced in quantity.
More pertinent to the Yak-52B2, however, is Ukraine's experiences using the same basic aircraft to counter Russian drones.
Evidence of Ukraine using the Yak-52 to attack Russian drones began to appear in the spring of 2024.Ukrainian Yak-52 pilots who shot down a
Russian reconnaissance UAV Orlan-10 today pic.twitter.com/2qeNbMNTHA
—
MilitaryNewsUA
(@front_ukrainian) April 27, 2024
Unlike the Russian adaptation with its fixed underwing armament, the Ukrainian Yak-52 conversion engages drones using a rifle-caliber weapon fired from the rear cockpit.
Reportedly, the Ukrainian Yak-52 anti-drone crews serve with the Civil Air Patrol of Ukraine, a civilian organization that consists mainly of amateur aviators and private aircraft owners.
By the summer of 2024, photos had emerged showing a Ukrainian Yak-52 with kill marks indicating the destruction of two ZALA 421-16E and six Orlan-10/30 series drones. The aircraft had also received a new geometric or 'digital' camouflage scheme, apparently tailored for low-level operations over the ground.
In Ukraine, meanwhile, there are reportedly only around a dozen Yak-52s available for counter-drone work. There are accounts that the total was reduced by a Russian Iskander short-range ballistic missile attack on an airfield near Odessa, which may have been a deliberate effort to try and knock out these aircraft, which appear to have been used primarily in southern Ukraine. Ukraine is now trying to use alternative aircraft platforms for the mission, notably the Aeroprakt A-22, as you can read about here.
The Ukrainian Yak-52 solution, which involves aiming a weapon by hand, with the slipstream of the aircraft to contend with, is far from easy. Before the crewmember can even take a shot, the aircraft also has to maneuver into a position from which this might be effective, bearing in mind the range of the weapon involved, closing speed, and the geometry of the engagement. With that in mind, the Russian solution with a fire-control computer and fixed gun armament would appear to have a better chance of success, but the weapon of choice seems like it would severely limit its capability, if not make engagements outright unsafe.
Shotguns firing anything but slugs — which are not applicable for the counter drone role — have an effective range of around 30-50 yards, depending on the load, and that is not when flying into an 80mph headwind. This is extremely close range for a trailing aerial engagement that would be needed with a fixed gun mount like the one found on the Yak-52. Destroying a drone with the shotgun in such a manner could result in debris impacting the aircraft and/or the drone's warhead being detonated, damaging or destroying the Yak-52 gun platform that is trailing very closely directly behind it. As we have discussed many times before, taking out slow moving drones via another fixed-wing aircraft with guns can be very challenging and downright dangerous, especially fast jets. But using such a close-range weapon, while it cannot cause collateral damage on the ground, seems like it would put the firing and aircraft in extreme danger.
An Ukrainian Yak-52 drone interceptor.POV of a ruSSian drone. pic.twitter.com/L7f0rVq7K4
— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝕯𝔢𝔞𝔡 𝕯𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔱△
(@TheDeadDistrict) March 24, 2025
On the other hand, it's unclear how much ammunition the fixed gun on the Yak-52B2 is provided with. The widely used Russian Saiga semi-automatic shotgun can be fitted with a detachable box magazine, like the kind seen in photos of the aircraft. Box magazine options generally range from five to 12 rounds. In this case, the magazine looks like at 10-12-round type. It seems consideration was given to using a heavier weapon with longer range — a PKTM general-purpose machine gun — but this was reportedly abandoned amid concerns as to how it could damage civilian infrastructure below.
Regardless of the weapon being used, the sensor turret on the Yak-52B2 means that it can counter drone threats at night, when most Ukrainian long-range one-way attack drones arrive over targets in Russia.
In Ukrainian hands, we also pointed out in the past how the inherent vulnerability of the Yak-52 limits the areas in which it can conduct drone-hunting missions. Russia doesn't have this problem if it chooses to use the Yak-52B2 for homeland defense, since this will involve largely uncontested airspace.
Another advantage of the Yak-52B2 is its availability, with no shortage of these easy-to-maintain light aircraft at flying clubs and civilian organizations around the country. However, the training requirements to form effective units of aerial drone-killers would be significant.
The Yak-52B2 has some limitations when it comes to combating long-range one-way attack drones — most notably its slow speed and limited radius of action, meaning it cannot run down specific targets, and it has a relatively low engagement rate. However, it could make sense for the point defense of certain critical targets. Furthermore, it can operate from the most basic airstrips, adding to its versatility.
It's also worth noting that Russia's traditional air defenses have had only mixed results against this type of drone threat.
In the past, Russian President Vladimir Putin himself has highlighted the difficulty in countering drones directed against targets deep within Russia, including the capital.
'The air defense system of Moscow worked normally, satisfactorily. Although there is something to work on,' Putin admitted, after a round of Ukrainian drone strikes against the capital in May 2023.
1/ Putin made a rare admission that Moscow's air defense system isn't well prepared to counter a large drone attack:"The air defense system of Moscow worked normally, satisfactorily. But, there is work to be done. We encountered the same problems at Khmeimim aerodrome in Syria." pic.twitter.com/sbnH8ZMmHP
— Guy Plopsky (@GuyPlopsky) May 30, 2023
A very close footage of a drone over Moscow pic.twitter.com/Iofvtqvwrn
— Giorgi Revishvili (@revishvilig) May 30, 2023
At the same time, ground-based air defense systems as well as combat aircraft are in short supply in Russia, with these being needed on and closer to the front lines.
Overall, the proliferation of Ukrainian aerial drones means that a layered defensive network involving different kinds of kinetic and non-kinetic solutions is likely the most effective. Certainly, there is a role for a light, slow-flying, agile platform — be it a fixed-wing aircraft or a helicopter — to counter drones. Indeed, it's something that many air forces have also explored, in a variety of contexts, but mainly for homeland defense.
According to unconfirmed Russian sources, the Yak-52B2 has already received an airworthiness certificate and is now undergoing tests to debug the onboard equipment. It may not be long before we get to see the first evidence of these aircraft being used in Russia's continued battle against Ukraine's long-range one-way attack drones.
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