Going Rambo on Gunships: Has Ukraine war spelled doom for attack helicopters? Japan has ditched them for drones

New Delhi: The Ukrainian battlefields are fast turning into existential crises for legendary war machines. With the battering that the Russian frontline tanks received in the mostly urban warfare that commenced as the Red Army sauntered into Ukrainian cities with aplomb, it may now be the turn of attack helicopters to be consigned to possible obsolescence. Whenever Russian attack helicopters come up for discussion, the famous battle of nerves and strategy between John Rambo ranged against an Mi-24 gunship runs across one’s mind. This throwback also ends in the chopper going down to Rambo’s stratagem. Russian gunships drubbed This imagery has been repeated in a way in the Russia-Ukraine war. Russian attack helicopters have fared badly in Ukraine. As per the London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) nearly 37 Russian attack choppers or gunships were lost between February 24, when the invasion commenced, and November 7 last year. Russia too was quick to learn its lessons. It soon pulled back its attack gunships from the Ukrainian territory in which they were carrying out search and destroy missions, to keep them safely behind Russian lines from where they could launch their armament. WATCH as Ukrainian forces destroyed Russian Mi-24 attack helicopter with MANPADS

This morning in the Kyiv region UA Armed Forces destroyed Russian attack helicopter Mi-24 with MANPADS.

Near Chernihiv UA forces shot down a Su-34 fighter-bomber. One of the pilots is captured, says he didn’t know that he was flying to bomb a peaceful city. Shameless liars. pic.twitter.com/xy0EtGope9

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) March 5, 2022

Japan to retire attack helicopters Japan has seen how loitering munitions and drones have been successfully used by both Ukraine and Russia to wreak havoc on each other. On the contrary, as mentioned above, attack helicopters have suffered badly. Why then invest in attack helicopters? Budget is not an issue either for the Japan Self-Defence Forces as Japan has doubled its defence spending to 2 per cent of the GDP. According to the Yomiuri’s The Japan News, the Japanese Defense Ministry “plans to downsize the Ground Self-Defense Force fleet, with 12 AH-64D combat helicopters, 47 AH-1S anti-tank attack helicopters and 33 OH-1 observation helicopters eyed for retirement”. On the contrary, Japan will start operating a brand new unscrewed replacements to the attach helicopters this year, Yomiuri added. Japan’s thinking on the attack helicopters cannot be clearer as has been noted in its defence blueprints: both Apache and Cobra have been labelled as “obsolete equipment”. Though Japan’s 48 Cobras are up for retirement, their replenishment has been scrapped from the defence blueprint for 2019-23. WATCH as Russian attack helicopter KA-52 Alligator was destroyed allegedly by Ukrainian air defenses

#Ukraine: Another Russian Attack Helicopter was destroyed by Ukrainian Air Defenses; this time a Ka-52 with tail number of RF-13411. pic.twitter.com/xeRhgB3mrv

— Polymarket Intel (@PolymarketIntel) March 16, 2022

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Unmanned nemeses of gunships The Ukrainian war has showed that short-range portable weapons or ‘manpads’ defeat the very purpose of deploying low-speed attack helicopters. After all, these were designed to chase and hit fighter jets clocking several times the speed of attack choppers. Just as in Rambo 3, even unsophisticated, raw rockets meant for ground attack purposes and held in the hands of untrained troops can easily and successfully target these literally low-hanging fruits in a war theatre. Portable defence systems carried on shoulders imposed heavy losses on the Russian attack gunships in Ukraine. Costly-benefit analysis As compared to the millions required to acquire attack helicopters—an Apache costs nearly $200 million—unmanned and uncrewed options, such as drones, are way cheaper. Moreover, when they crash there is no loss of life involved. According to ASPI, the Turkish Baykar Bayraktar TB2 drone, have a gross weight of 700 kilograms and cost US$1–2 million apiece. Origin of attack helicopters Attack helicopters were invented and introduced by the French Army, fighting in Algeria. These Alouette II light utility choppers went beyond strapping guns to their bodies, and carried anti-tank missiles, apart from rockets, though unguided. This was in 1956. Thereafter, Bell followed suit and attack helicopters went on becoming more modernised and complex as time passed. But has their time to retire come? Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.