Click to see full-size image. (Telegram)
Strapped for air defenses, Ukraine has begun to arm agricultural aircraft with air-to-air missiles in a desperate attempt to counter the ever growing threat of Russian drones.
First evidence of these efforts emerged online on August 8 with two videos showing a Z-137T agricultural turboprop-powered aircraft armed with two Soviet-era R-73 infrared-homing short-range air-to-air missiles flying on a very low level somewhere in Ukraine.
The Z-137T is a modernized version of the Czechoslovakian Zlin Z-37 produced in the 1990s. The aircraft is highly maneuverable and has a maximum cruising speed of over 250 kilometers per hour, faster than most long-range suicide drones.
Despite these qualities, it is doubtful that the airframe of the aircraft would be able to handle the strain of launching missiles like the R-73.
The R-73 missiles in Ukraine’s arsenal are mostly Soviet-made R-73A with a limited range of 30 kilometers, but even this older version might be too powerful for the Z-137T, whose wings are just designed to handle things like agricultural spray equipment.
While this is the first example of Ukraine arming turboprop-powered aircraft with air-to-air missiles, Kiev forces have been using such aircraft, mainly Yakovlev Yak-52s armed with machine guns, to intercept drones for quite some time.
The sketchy, Z-137T missile-armed drone interceptor shows that the Ukrainian Air Force is truly struggling to cope with increasing Russian drone attacks.
Geran-type propeller-driven fixed-wing long-range suicide drones have been causing a headache for Kiev, with reports suggesting that Russia could soon employ 1,000 or even 2,000 such drones a day.
While drone interceptors like the Z-137T and Yak-52 have the speed to keep with regular Geran-type drones, Russia has already developed a turbojet-powered version of the drone with enough speed to make intercepting it only possible with costly air defense missiles.
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even grannys handbag is enough to crush the zombie orch nazis. swing it and slap them silly!
ukraine will never stop resisting the orc invasion…bring it you shitstains!!!
heheheh
thanks for posting, my weekend starts good now. very funny😂😂😂🍿🥤🍿
it is an interesting concept, because pilots can be trained quickly. but indeed firing missiles with this frame looks quite dangerous💣😵💫💣
its been modified several times can carry 600kg but had to be strengthened in the wings -two z-73 missiles weigh 210kg but its the stress on the wing structure and supports that and the firing force that can cause long term cracks in the structure.
not bad idea. the agriculture aircraft has very powerfull engines for low flying under radar ..
so the ukrainian army now has forced conscription for all crop duster plans ? even a rifle could shoot one down . did nato war planners come up with this game changing wonder weapon ?