Ukraine's First World War tactics of catching Russian drones with shotguns
Aug 26, 2025
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Pilots and gunners on old-fashioned propeller aircraft lean out and shoot down drones with shotguns and rifles.
Ukraine has some advanced Western air defense systems, including US-made Patriot missiles and F-16 fighter jets, but such an atypical tactic is inevitable to handle Russia's barrage of drones.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the 11th Brigade of Ukrainian Army Aviation deployed a Yak-52 propeller aircraft manufactured during the former Soviet era and shot down a total of 120 drones with shotguns and rifles last year alone. A marksman once a car mechanic said "Now there's a flood of high-tech technology, and I'm still leaning out of the cockpit and shooting drones with shotguns"He claimed that more than 60 drones were shot down by himself.
This is reminiscent of the air war tactics of World War I.
At the time, fighter pilots had to lean out of the cockpit and shoot, but the tactics of the 11th Brigade are not much different now.
The Yark-52 does not even have a radar, so the pilot has to approach the drone with his own eyes after receiving radio instructions.
After approaching only 60 to 90 meters from the drone, the gunners open the cockpit cover and fire.
One shooter described "It's like shooting on a horse."
'Primary' tactics, but the effect cannot be ignored.
Colonel Mykola Rihatsky, deputy commander of the 11th Brigade, said "These tactics alone account for 10-12% of the average daily downing of drones" Ukrainian pilots are even recycling the tactics used by the UK in the past, pushing drones off the rails by the wings of aircraft.
However, the risks are also daunting. Russia is upgrading its technology so that drones can be directly aimed at propeller aircraft by installing high-performance cameras.
In July, Colonel Costantin Oborin, the commander of the 11th Brigade, nicknamed 'Kamikaze', was killed in a Russian ballistic missile attack.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.