Ukrainian defenders downed a Russian helicopter Ka-52 in the vicinity of the village of Robotyne, Zaporizhia region, using a portable anti-aircraft missile system, Commander of the Tavria Operational and Strategic Group of Forces Oleksandr Tarnavsky has said.
Before the war, KA-52s were hyped as a kind of Apache killer. Now we see them dropping from the skies like flies. Is the platform bad? I like the counter-rotating blades as it reduces the mechanical inefficiency present when you have to torque a smaller rotor at the back of the helicopter.
Or it could just be a sign of the effectiveness of anti-air systems being used.
I think “dropping like flies” is a bit of an overstatement when you regard the number of sorties being flown. I think this is more a sign of how saturated the airspace is with AA, if any pilot is just a bit uncareful or unlucky, they will get shot down.
Tbf. these have been more effective than I would have liked to see against Ukrainian armour, and we even have a video of one surviving having its tail shot off.
As for how they would do if western aircraft were in the air: That might be a different story, and not one I’m going to speculate about.