Unprecedented air-sea battles happening concurrently within the Red and Black Sea are seeing naval helicopters long operated from frigates, destroyers, cruisers and even some corvettes tackle a new-role: destroying marauding air and sea kamikaze drones.
On March 20, a French Puma AS.565SA Panther naval helicopter attached to the French air defense frigate Alsace was patrolling near a civilian container ship when it was dispatched to intercept an approaching aerial drone.
“Visual!” the helicopter’s pilot reported as his infrared optical sensors locked onto a V-tailed fixed-wing drone with a pusher propeller.
The model seemed to be a Sammad-2 (or UAV-X) kamikaze drone employed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Apparently derived form the Iranian KAS-04 Sayad drone, a Sammad-2 typically carries a 40-pound explosive/ball bearing warhead, and has a maximum speed of 124-155 miles per hour and considerable range of 800-1,000 miles. (The longer-range Sammad-3 is distinguished by a fuel storage ‘hump’ on its back.)
Fortunately, French Navy helicopter pilots had specifically trained to intercept and destroy aerial drones prior to deployment.
“All right that’s good,” the helicopter crew reported. “I’m firing!” Two temporary bursts of machine gun then captured on video, likely fired from the Panther’s door-mounted 7.62-millimeter AANF1 machine gun. Footage of the impact was not recorded, however the drone subsequently disappears from view and the crew reported “All right, the motor is disabled.”
Shooting down a drone with a side-mounted gun isn’t easy, as will be seen in a U.S. Navy training video dating back to 2015. Drones could also be slow, but they’re small, and the gunner must accurately lead the shot.
More excitement would follow the subsequent day. Alsace—one in every of only two Aquitaine-class FREMM frigates built with a specialized anti-air warfare configuration with 32 missile-launch cells—shot down three anti-ship ballistic missiles using Aster-30 missiles directed by its up-sized Herakles multi-function radar.
That very same day, the helicopters of one other European navy joined the fray when the German Type 124 air defense frigate Hessen detected an incoming Houthi drone boat (or USV) while the frigate was assisting in a towing operation—potentially that of a civilian ship damaged in an earlier Houthi missile or drone attack.
Because the explosive-laden USV closed inside a number of miles of a civilian ship, the frigate’s patrolling Sea Lyx Mk88A helicopter intercepted and destroyed the one-way robot—most certainly using a Herstal M3M .50-caliber door machine gun, installed back in 2009. This can be a faster-firing variant (1,100 rounds per minute cyclic rate) of the classic .50-cal machine gun specifically intended for helicopter mounting.
Each Hessen and Alsace are amongst the eight frigates (and one Italian destroyer) assembled for Operation Aspides by the European Union in February, intended to guard shipping within the Red Sea from continuous missile and kamikaze drone attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen in response to the continued conflict in Gaza that began last October.
Besides the aforementioned skirmishes, Aspide’s warships have downed drones with shorter-range SeaRAM and Aster 15 missiles, in addition to cheaper-to-use 3” computer-guided gun turrets and smaller point-defense autocannons.
Moreover, two French Mirage 2000-5F fighters based in Djibouti (from 3/11 Corsica squadron) used their 30-millimeter DEFA cannons and MICA missiles to down 2-4 Shahed-136 kamikaze drones on March 9—the French Air Force’s first confirmed air-to-air kill since World War II.
The Houthi attacks have effectively created a “battle laboratory” for testing NATO naval air defenses never before employed in combat. Up to now, not one Houthi attack has struck a warship, though a substantial number have damaged merchant shipping, with one ship sunk and one other suffering several crew killed.
Helicopters versus flying drones
Naval helicopters are optimized for shipboard operations ,with features including folding rotor blades for easier hangar stowage, corrosion resistant materials to resist exposure to sea water, and ruggedized landing gear. They play a key role in anti-submarine warfare, helping locate and attack submarines before they close inside torpedo range of the helicopter’s mothership. Additionally they undertake a broader range of utility roles, including search-and-rescue at sea, scouting, ship-to-shore personnel transport, ship-to-ship personnel transport, and logistics transport. Some, in a pinch also can perform anti-ship or ground attack missions.
Air-to-air combat, nonetheless, has not traditionally been one in every of those jobs, as (with maximum speeds typically ranging between 150-200 miles per hour) helicopters are much slower than fixed wing military aircraft. Thus, probably the most plausible aerial goal of a helicopter was one other helicopter—a rare scenario for which some attack helicopters have occasionally been fitted with short-range air-to-air missiles.
Nonetheless, low-cost piston-engine or vertical-lift drones are sometimes slower than helicopters. And every drone downed by a helicopter’s guns can save a number of million-dollar-plus air defense missiles from a ship’s missile cells (which could also be needed later to fend off scarier missile threats). Moreover, roving helicopters can detect and intercept sea and aerial drones sooner, scaling down the number that approach dangerously near a ship.
Admittedly, most aerial drones are sufficiently small that hitting them with manually aimed guns is difficult, as you may see within the combat footage from Ukraine below.
Worse, a helicopter chasing drones may put itself in danger. Though helicopters are often faster, a rare ‘interceptor’ drone or concealed kamikaze drone ambushe might take a helicopter by surprise while its hovering or moving at slow speeds. Russian drone builder ZALA has also proposed flying picket lines of drones forming a form of aerial minefield to discourage slower aircraft (drones, helicopters) from approaching.
Overall, though, kamikaze drones have yet to ram a flying helicopter in combat, despite not less than one recorded Ukrainian try and accomplish that. For now, helicopters remain more hunter than hunted when facing drones.
Helicopters versus sea drones
While attacks by Houthi drone boats (or USVs) have had no known successes, the rebel group is undoubtedly inspired by Ukraine’s kamikaze USVs, which—since their combat debut in October of 2022—have damaged or sunk several Russian warships within the Black Sea. Ukrainian USVs ride so low within the water that they often go undetected until dangerously close, and infrequently seem unhindered by the powerful radar-guided cannons on Russian ships.
Meaning a wider-ranging search effort using optical/infrared sensors is essential—something helicopters can do higher than ships or fast-moving jet fighters. Russia’s naval helicopters have prominently been employed to hunt Ukrainian USVs, and were recorded strafing said boats of their debut assault on Sevastopol in October of 2022.
Reportedly, preferred weapons include GSHG quad-7.62 millimeter machinegun pods, 30-millimeter cannons and S-8 82-millimeter rockets. One video shot from throughout the cockpit of what appears to be an Mi-8 assault transport shows a Russian crew blazing at a Ukrainian USV with rockets (which appear too scattered to accurately hit) and a rare nose-mounted machine gun manually aimed from the cockpit.
By fall of 2023, the Black Sea Fleet began forming special drone-hunting helicopter detachments including Ka-27, Ka-29, and Mi-8 helicopters. A Ka-29 was credited with a drone boat kill on October 6. This March, each Russia’s Baltic and Pacific fleets carried out first-ever exercises by which Ka-27 and Ka-29 helicopters practiced attacking simulated maritime drones using each 7.62-millimeter miniguns and autocannons. Be-12 seaplanes have also been involved within the sea drone hunts, and Russia has tested kamikaze FPV drones in a counter-USV role.
Improbably, hunter has also turn out to be hunted on this contest. One in every of Russia’s Ka-29 helicopters was destroyed by a drone boat strike on March 4/5 while aboard the doomed corvette Sergey Kotov.
The most important lessons from Russia’s experience are that kamikaze USVs are tricky to detect, night-fighting capable infrared sights are a must, and larger-caliber weapons have a greater probability of knocking them out before they ram their victims. On this regard, the 7.62-millimeter medium machine guns on the AS.565 may not hit hard enough to physically cripple USVs before they reach their goal.
Heavier machine guns (14.5 millimeter or .50 caliber)—or, higher yet, smaller precision guided munitions—seem more more likely to reliably neutralize a USV. Examples of the latter could include powerful Hellfire or Brimstone anti-tank missiles, or cheaper, laser-guided APKWS rockets.
The counter-USV mission bears similarities to that of battling crewed motor boats with heavy weapons. These feature prominently in Iranian naval doctrine within the Persian Gulf. An instructive incident in that vein also occurred on the Red Sea on Dec. 31, 2023, when (at 6:30 AM) a U.S. Navy MH-60R multi-mission helicopter from the destroyer Gravely engaged 4 small Houthi boats harassing the container ship Maersk Hangzhou with small arms and ‘crew-served weapons’ (likely medium or heavy machine guns) from just 20 meters away.
After the helicopter broadcast a warning to desist, the boats fired back. According to sources cited by Ward Carroll, former editor of Military.com, the MH-60R responded with 4 laser-guided AGM-114R Hellfire anti-tank missiles that sank three of the boats, killing all 10 aboard. The fourth boat escaped. (The AGM-114R’s five-mile range exceeds the reach of air defense guns and man-portable anti-air missiles.)
As kamikaze USVs could also be harder to accurately hit and harder to disable for lack of exposed human crew, navies may consider fielding heavier helicopter armament to make sure USVs are reliably dispatched.
European sea cats: Panther and Sea Lynx shipboard helicopters
The Westland Lynx twin-engine helicopter entered British military service in 1977, and has rapidly spawned variants to be used in each land and maritime warfare for its 18 export clients. The German Navy’s Sea Lynx Mk88 is one in every of the sooner models, with 19 entering service in 1981 and 7 improved Mk88A delivered in 1996 (with the older Mk88s upgraded to the A regular). The A upgrade includes the Seaspray 3000 radar in an under-nose radome, with 360-degree coverage and the MST infrared sensor.
Just like the British Lynx HAS Mk2 model, the Mk88A is fast (max speed of 201 miles per hour), and is fitted with dipping sonar equipment and anti-submarine torpedoes. It theoretically supports the Sea Skua light anti-ship missile (range of 15.5 miles) utilized by British Sea Lynxes within the 1991 Gulf War. But while Germany procured Sea Skuas, it has since retired them.
As much as two Mk88As can deploy on Germany’s eleven frigates of three classes (older F123 multi-role frigates, F124 air defense frigates, and 4 big latest F125 littoral support frigates). Germany Sea Lynxes were lively in anti-piracy missions off the coast of Somalia, but skin-cracking issues grounded some or all the fleet in 2014, and again in fall of 2023. The remaining 22 Mk88As will steadily get replaced by larger NH-90 based Sea Tiger helicopters, featuring latest electro-optical and electromagnetic sensors, torpedo armament, and anti-ship missile armament.
Meanwhile, the French Navy’s 36th Flotilla operates 16 AS-565SA Panther twin-engine helicopters built by Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters), received within the Nineteen Nineties. A militarized variant of the favored Dauphin helicopter, the Panthers deploy on French frigates and aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, and have been involved in counter-piracy, reconnaissance, and assault troop transport roles. The AS.565 has a max speed of 190 miles per hour and might fly as much as 19,250 ft high and out to 514 miles (far further than the Sea Lynx’s 328 miles).
Within the early 2010s, the AS.565SAs were refurbished to the Standard 2 model with latest night-vision-compatible cockpit displays, electro-optical sensors, datalinks and jam-resistant radios adapted from France’s Tiger attack helicopters.
Payload options include Mark 46 or Whitehead anti-submarine torpedoes, unguided 68-millimeter rockets, 20-millimeter cannon pods, HOT anti-tank missiles, Mistral anti-air missiles, and AS-15TT anti-ship missiles.
Each the Panther and Sea Lynx proved successful anti-boat weapons throughout the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Royal Saudi Navy Panthers used radio-controlled AS.15TT missiles to sink not less than two Iraqi boats, while British Sea Lynxes sank or crippled a dozen or more boats, minesweepers, and landing craft using Sea Skua missiles.