Are attack helicopters going to be phased out? Ukrainian FPV drones intercept and attack Russian Ka-52 attack helicopters in the air. A $1,000 drone can now intercept an attack helicopter worth $20 million.
In the past, one of the main reasons for the popularity of attack helicopters was their low flight altitude and high speed. They could evade detection by anti-aircraft radars and thus avoid being targeted. By taking advantage of their ultra-low-altitude flight capability, they could launch anti-tank missiles and rockets to strike ground targets.
However, on today's modern battlefield, portable anti-aircraft missiles are everywhere. There are portable anti-aircraft missiles and anti-aircraft guns all over the place. Now there are even FPV drones intercepting helicopters. The low cost-effectiveness ratio of attack helicopters makes them unsuitable for modern battlefields.
The detection capabilities of attack helicopters themselves are very limited. Their ability to perceive the battlefield situation and detect threatening targets is not sufficient to identify all potential threats, making them vulnerable to ambushes.
In modern warfare, unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) with long loiter time, long range, large payload capacity, synthetic aperture radar, and data link communication capabilities will replace the battlefield roles of most manned attack helicopters.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1832351788311561/
Disclaimer: This article solely represents the author's personal views.