China looks to Ukraine war for guidance on attack helicopters

As the stalemate in the Ukraine War seemed to harden during late 2023, military strategists wondered if 2024 could see breakthroughs driven by enhanced airpower. Many are focused, for instance, on the apparently imminent deployment of the first Ukrainian F-16 fighters to the battlefield. Likewise, Kyiv has celebrated its first apparent shootdown of a large Russian air battle management Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS)-type A-50 aircraft.

With respect to Russian airpower, Chinese strategists continue to be quite fixated on Russian attack helicopter operations in Ukraine. Helicopters appear to be at the very heart of any Chinese strategy to conquer Taiwan, since they can provide both extensive air cover and firepower for amphibious forces coming ashore in a hypothetical Taiwan scenario. Just as crucial, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) rotary-wing aircraft would provide transport capabilities to deliver “air cavalry” and special forces deep into the island’s interior. This would be done in order to disorient Taiwan’s defenders and prevent reinforcements from developing counter-attacks against the PLA’s initial lodgments.

One Russian helicopter, in particular, has garnered extra Chinese attention: the Ka-52 Alligator. Not only is this Russia’s most advanced attack helicopter, incorporating some important design innovations, but there were strong rumors in fall 2021 that the PLA was acquiring the Ka-52 for use aboard its new large amphibious attack ships (type 075). That would not be strange given that the PLA Navy and the other Chinese armed forces have relied extensively on Russian helicopters for decades.

Thus, there are many reasons to pay attention to a late 2023 Chinese language analysis of Ka-52 operations in the Russian war in Ukraine. The overall theme of this article is that the Russian helicopter’s combat record has achieved an improbable comeback.

Read article in The Diplomat