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'Better than nothing': Outgunned Ukrainian pilots take the fight to Russia in ancient Soviet-era helicopters
CNN ^ | Fri February 17, 2023 | Sam Kiley and Olha Konovalova

Posted on 02/23/2023 7:54:46 AM PST by MinorityRepublican

(CNN) The horizon disappears for a moment as the nose of the helicopter rears. There's a faint thump as rockets trailing brown smoke arc ahead. The aircraft banks as if flicked on its side by an outside force.

Diving back towards to the ground it spurts flares from its tail to distract heat-seeking missiles.

Somewhere in the battle for the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, Russian soldiers are being torn apart, and burned, as the ground itself erupts when the rockets find their target. There's no time to reflect -- the effect of the rockets will get passed back to the pilots later. Their task now is to stay alive.

Ukraine's losses are a national secret. But pilots and air crew in the Sikorsky Brigade have all lost close friends to Russian SAMs (Surface to Air Missiles). Often shoulder launched, the man-portable missiles can send a helicopter into a ball of flame in seconds.

They're hunted. Whether airborne or not. Ukraine's air force and army aviators along with their planes and helicopters, are priority prey for Russia's missiles. They're likely top of the Kremlin's list.

CNN spent time embedded with the Sikorsky Brigade in eastern Ukraine operating from a secret base. It has a handful of helicopters and pilots there, conducting combat missions against Russian forces.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Russia
KEYWORDS: russia; ukraine
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1 posted on 02/23/2023 7:54:46 AM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

Time to send them Huey Cobras and Apaches then!


2 posted on 02/23/2023 7:59:50 AM PST by Timber Rattler ("To hold a pen is to be at war." --Voltaire)
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To: MinorityRepublican

I believe it is a truism that pilots are always more valuable than aircraft. Planes can (generally) be produced or procured somewhere. But pilots are hard to replace.

Forcing your pilots to go up in any old thing that flies is a desperate move by a nation that is losing badly.


3 posted on 02/23/2023 8:01:48 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (“You want it one way, but it's the other way”)
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To: MinorityRepublican

May the Ukrainians rest in peace.


4 posted on 02/23/2023 8:07:26 AM PST by Tacticalman
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To: MinorityRepublican

There’s an interesting dynamic to the Liberal World Order propaganda.

When the Ukraine is using outdated equipment it is portrayed as heroic.

When Russian is using outdated equipment it is portrayed as buffoonish.


5 posted on 02/23/2023 8:07:45 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

“You must learn to think in Russian.”


6 posted on 02/23/2023 8:08:08 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: ClearCase_guy

A desperate move by a nation that wants to exist. Shame on them.


7 posted on 02/23/2023 8:11:46 AM PST by lodi90
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To: ClearCase_guy
Planes can (generally) be produced or procured somewhere. But pilots are hard to replace.

WWII Germany and Japan come to mind.

8 posted on 02/23/2023 8:12:03 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: BenLurkin

The Narrative


9 posted on 02/23/2023 8:13:23 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: BenLurkin

Hardly. Nobody ever claimed Ukraine was a super power and near equal of the US militarily. TASS is happy to fill you in on those facts:

https://www.rbth.com/defence/2016/02/17/russia-ranked-worlds-2nd-military-power-after-us_568639


10 posted on 02/23/2023 8:13:46 AM PST by lodi90
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To: MinorityRepublican
"Diving back towards to the ground it spurts flares from its tail to distract heat-seeking missiles."

Sounds like something out of a prison romance novel.

11 posted on 02/23/2023 8:32:52 AM PST by cweese (Hook 'em Horns!!!)
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To: lodi90

No shame at all.

But the notion that Russia is losing is laughable. The Globalists are losing. As they should.


12 posted on 02/23/2023 8:33:34 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (“You want it one way, but it's the other way”)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Bttt

Is that still around


13 posted on 02/23/2023 8:35:49 AM PST by Firehath
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To: ClearCase_guy
"But the notion that Russia is losing is laughable."

Maybe, but they sure seem to have adroitly avoided winning for a solid year.

14 posted on 02/23/2023 8:38:39 AM PST by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest )
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To: MinorityRepublican

“better than nothing” — easy to say, CNN coward.


15 posted on 02/23/2023 8:40:40 AM PST by bobbo666 (Baizuo)
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To: ClearCase_guy

The globalists? You mean the people that built those giant gas pipes to Russia? The people that want to partner with Putin to nuke up Iran and sell them Boeing aircraft? The globalists are certainly “losing” out on more deals with Russia right now because those pesky Ukrainians refuse to surrender and be slaves in the Russian World.


16 posted on 02/23/2023 8:45:05 AM PST by lodi90
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To: lodi90

The globalists are all who are outside the perimeter of the rock under which the neo-isolationist lives


17 posted on 02/23/2023 8:47:47 AM PST by bert ( (KWE. NP. N.C. +12) Juneteenth is inequality day )
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To: lodi90

18 posted on 02/23/2023 8:52:05 AM PST by bagster ("Even bad men love their mamas".)
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To: BenLurkin

Re #5, that’s because it’s all outdated Soviet equipment. The warehouses are being rapidly depleted.


19 posted on 02/23/2023 10:15:10 AM PST by DownInFlames (P)
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To: Timber Rattler

“ Time to send them Huey Cobras and Apaches then!”
******************************************

Along with tactical nuclear weapons. After all, what could go wrong?

By the way, WHEN DOES THE UKRAINIAN INVASION of Transnistria and its INDEPENDENCE-MINDED INHABITANTS launch?


20 posted on 02/23/2023 10:21:28 AM PST by House Atreides (I’m now ULTRA-MAGA. -PRO-MAXI)
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