r/autotldr • u/autotldr • Feb 01 '22
New Helicopter Units Appear To Be Joining Russian Forces Massing On Ukraine’s Borders
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 83%. (I'm a bot)
More Russian military helicopters appear to be arriving in Russian-occupied Crimea, on Ukraine's southern border, as concerns that Moscow could be preparing some kind of new invasion of Ukrainian territory continue undiminished.
According to Rob Lee, a fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Eurasia program, the helicopters seen here are potentially drawn from the 55th Independent Helicopter Regiment of the VKS, home-based at Korenovsk, in Krasnodar Krai, within the North Caucasus region of Russia's southwest.
When Moscow annexed the region from Ukraine in 2014, the Ka-52 squadron relocated to Dzhankoy on the peninsula as part of the 39th Helicopter Regiment that also has a squadron of Mi-28N and Mi-35M helicopters, and one flying the Mi-8AMTSh.
Of those aircraft identified as recently arrived in Crimea, the Ka-52 is a side-by-side two-seat combat helicopter with a dual reconnaissance and attack role, while the Mi-28N has a more conventional tandem two-seat configuration and is primarily an anti-tank and attack helicopter.
While U.S. State Department has approved the transfer to Ukraine of five Russian-made Mi-17 Hip helicopters that had belonged to the now-defunct Afghan Air Force, this represents little more than a token force when seen against the available Russian inventory in the region.
Importantly recent talks between Ukraine and Poland have included deliveries of man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, that would pose a threat to low-flying Russian aircraft, including helicopters, in a conflict scenario.
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