New details come to light about the recent Javelin shot that took down a russian Ka-52 attack helicopter in the Berdyansk direction. These details were revealed by the Spokesperson for the Joint Press Center of the Tavria Direction Defense Forces Valerii Shershen.
In an interview to RFE/RL, Capt. Shershen named the main hero of the episode – commander of an anti-tank mobile unit within the 36th Marine Brigade, soldier with the call sign Maiak.
Read more: russia's Ka-52 Alligator Attack Helicopter Was Shot Down by Ukrainian Marines with American Javelin ATGM
The downing of the Ka-52 on July 2 became the first recorded episode when a Javelin anti-tank guided missile managed to take down a helicopter. The reports about this event only appeared the next day, after the destruction was confirmed by the Ukrainian military command.
The Spokesman said this Ka-52 was napping-on-the-earth, i.e. flying as low as possible to avoid being hit by air defense missiles.
However, a Javelin operator spotted the rotorcraft, took aim, and pressed launch. It's worth noting here that the FGM-148 Javelin is a fire-and-forget missile which, although is indeed primarily intended as an anti-tank weapon, has never ruled out aerial vehicles as potential targets. In fact, an algorithm for this kind of situation is included in the Javelin manual.
The thermal homing head has an even better chance of locking on an aircraft against the clear sky than a tank due to the vivid signature contrast.
Capt. Shershen also noted that soldier Maiak stands out not for the first time. Earlier he proved himself as a skillful anti-tank system operator by having destroyed five armored vehicles during battles on the Avdiivka direction, eastern Ukraine. We can also find articles about his achievements from back then: three tanks and two BMP vehicles were destroyed by him personally and even more by his unit. This anti-tank detachment also was notable during the defense of Mykolaiv during the first months of the russian all-out invasion.
So here we have an ideal example of how personal mastery of the Javelin operator combined with a brief moment of opportunity when the russian helicopter was in a more or less suitable position to be reached by an FGM-148 Javelin.
Because what makes the hit difficult is that the attack range of Javelin is only 2.5 km compared to most anti-aircraft missiles operating within a 5 km distance to the target, or more.
Overall the recently increased elimination of russian helicopters over the past month is partly or entirely caused by the shortage of artillery at disposal of russian invasion forces, as we explained in one of our previous articles. And the fact russians deploy their army aviation to cover for the lack of howitzers plays an important role in the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Read more: Russia Lost 5 Ka-52 Attack Helicopters in 4 Days Because of Artillery Shortage
