The Ukrainians turned at least two propeller-driven Yak-52s into drone-hunters in the simplest way possible: by arming the backseat crew member with a shotgun. The Russians got fancy—and added an underwing sensor turret in addition to a backseat shotgun to create the Yak-52B2 variant of the classic training plane.
All the Yak-52 dogfighters, Russian and Ukrainian alike, benefit from availability, simplicity, maneuverability and forgiving low-speed handling at a cruising speed of just 225 kph. They’re a cheap, effective way of engaging enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over vulnerable cities.
Shooting down a $100,000 Russian drone with an air-defense missile might cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Shooting it down with a shotgun from a light plane might cost a few thousand dollars.
Ukraine can’t shoot down all of Russia’s missiles. So they’re blowing them up before launch.
“The light-engine Yak-52B2 is capable of hitting both enemy aircraft-type UAVs … and light-engine aircraft in the unmanned version (for example, the Aeroprakt A-22),” Military Informant reported. Ukraine converts A-22 sport planes into long-range attack drones capable of hitting targets as far as 1,600 km away.
Whether Russian forces will adopt the Yak-52B2, and how many copies they might acquire, remains to be seen.
But the need is clear. Russian air defenses are spread thin protecting front-line forces, air bases, oil refineries and cities such as Moscow from Ukraine’s growing inventory of attack drones. “You can’t defend everywhere,” retired US Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling noted.
The Ukrainians proved just how efficient a Yak-52 can be in the counter-drone role. In a busy three months starting in May 2024, a Ukrainian Yak-52 shot down a large number of Russian drones over southern Ukraine. The front-seat pilot steered the nimble plane while the gunner in the back opened fire with a shotgun.
One Russian blogger lamented “a Ukrainian with a double-barreled shotgun, firing at our UAVs like it’s a shooting gallery.”
Fans of the Yak-52 crew posted videos and photos of the piston-engine plane in action. A growing number of kill markings on the side of the old trainer spoke to its effectiveness as a drone-killer. It worked so well that the Ukrainian intelligence directorate began training airmen to hunt Russian unmanned aerial vehicles from A-22s, as well.
But that first drone-hunting Yak-52’s fame made it a top target for the Russians. “The Yak-52 flew over Odesa and with high efficiency shot down our reconnaissance UAVs for a week, causing laughter in some circles,” one blogger wrote.
“This has not been funny to UAV operators and us for a long time,” the blogger added. “Isn’t it time to shoot him down?”
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It was. On July 15, a Russian drone surveyed Hydroport airfield in Odesa, pinpointing several parked Ukrainian UAVs and hangars where the Yak-52 may have sheltered.
An Iskander ballistic missile streaked in, exploding between the drones and the hangars and sparking several fires. One analyst scrutinized video and satellite imagery and concluded that the Iskander damaged three drones and several hangars. The Yak-52 was apparently damaged or destroyed: there were no more photos or videos of the famous plane.
A list of civilian-registered aircraft in Ukraine from 2014 includes 33 Yak-52s, so it was only a matter of time before Ukrainian forces acquired a replacement airframe. On March 24, a second Ukrainian Yak-52 took to the air over southern Ukraine with a backseat gunner.
That drone-hunter may soon have company on the other side of the 700-mile front line, if and when the Russians deploy their own Yak-52s to defend strategic sites.