Russian Aviation Suffers Its Biggest Defeat Since 1940s

Analysts spoke about the consequences of a successful strike by the Ukrainian forces for Russia.

The first ATACMS strike brought the largest one-time losses for Russia’s military aviation since the 1940s. The price of the destroyed helicopters alone is more than 6.5 billion Russian rubles.

Analysts of the Oryx project confirmed the losses of Russian aviation in the ATACMS missile attacks on airfields near Berdiansk and Luhansk on October 17:

9 helicopters were destroyed (7 Ka-52 and 2 Mi-8).

15 helicopters were damaged (8 Ka-52 and 7 Mi-8).

The cost of the destroyed equipment exceeds 6.5 billion rubles, as calculated by the Mozhem Obyasnit (“We Can Explain”) Telegram channel. According to open sources, the Ka-52 costs 850 million rubles, and the Mi-8 costs 250 million. These figures do not include missile weapons and additional equipment. It’s impossible to estimate the extent of damage and repair cost of other helicopters.

“The ATACMS cluster warheads that the Armed Forces of Ukraine received turned out to be a very effective weapon against aircraft at airfields,” military analyst Yan Matveev said. “Yes, their small submunitions will not be able to completely destroy every helicopter or aircraft, but they will make multiple shell holes. The aviation that has formally survived and is listed as damaged will have to be repaired for a long time and at a high cost.”

This is the largest single loss of Russian military aviation since World War II.

The previous largest loss was the destruction of 7 aircraft at Saki Airfield in Crimea on August 9, 2022. Then, as a result of a series of explosions, Su-24 bombers and Su-30 fighters burned out.

During the entire invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Aerospace Forces have already lost 59 Ka-52s - almost half of the fleet of helicopters of this model. According to The 2022 Military Balance bulletin, the Russian Aerospace Forces had 133 Ka-52s. Real combat operations have shown that the widely advertised Alligator has shortcomings that lead to significant losses for these vehicles.