Six months after the Russians shot down Ukraine’s last naval rescue helicopter, the UK is sending a replacement | Daily News Byte

The United Kingdom is sending three Westland Sea King helicopters to Ukraine.

The 1970s-vintage rotorcraft, which once served in large numbers in the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, is Ukraine’s first Western helicopter. Harbingers, perhaps, of the future of the Ukrainian military as it gradually evolves into a NATO-style force with large quantities of European and American-made weapons.

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced the transfer on Wednesday. The first of the former Royal Navy Sea Kings was in Ukraine, Wallace said. Meanwhile, the Navy has trained 10 crews from the UK Ministry of Defence Tweeted. It is not clear whether the ministry meant a total of 10 pilots, co-pilots and crew chiefs or 10 three-persons. crew The latter seems more likely.

The Sea Kings, which are apparently three HU5 models that civilian operator Heliops took over from the Royal Navy after their retirement from UK military service in 2018, are “increase. [Ukraine’s] Search-and-rescue capabilities,” the Defense Ministry tweeted.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the Ukrainian Navy launched Russia’s sweeping war on Ukraine in late February with—you guessed it—three search-and-rescue helicopters. Soviet-vintage Mil Mi-14s took off from the Ukrainian strategic port of Odessa on the western Black Sea.

It is possible that only one of the Mi-14s is airworthy. In early June, this Mi-14 was intercepted by a Russian Sukhoi fighter while flying over Odessa. Colonel Ihor Bedze, deputy commander of the Ukrainian Navy and pilot of the Mi-14, tried and failed to evade the Sukhoi. Bedazi and possibly the rest of the crew were killed when an R-73 infrared-guided missile hit the helicopter.

It appears that the June shoot-down left the Ukrainian Navy with no operational rescue helicopters. No photographic evidence of Ukrainian Mi-14s in flight has since been found.

The replacement helicopter comes at a critical moment for the Ukrainian Navy. The fleet is beginning to recover from devastating losses early in the conflict, including its sole frigate, several of its patrol boats, and yes, its Mi-14.

With most of its ships at the bottom or in the Black Sea or in Russian hands, the navy pushed on. Its TB-2 armed aerial drones, explosive drone boats and land-based Neptune anti-ship missiles have become its most important weapons – and highly effective ones at that.

Missile cruiser sinks as Ukrainian Navy drones and missiles strike Russian Black Sea Fleet Moscow and many smaller ships, the Navy began receiving Harpoon anti-ship missiles from the United States and other Western allies, as well as a number of patrol boats. The boats formed the Riverine Squadron which patrolled the vast Dnipro River that cuts north to south through central Ukraine.

While the Ukrainian army and marine corps liberated the port of Kherson at the mouth of the Dnipro earlier this month, Ukraine’s new small-boat navy became more active at the mouth of the river, possibly even supporting commando raids on Russian positions on the Kinburn Peninsula.

With more and more Western weapons, the Ukrainian Navy is gradually regaining its strength. Now, thanks to the United Kingdom, it has rescue helicopters again – possibly for the first time in six months.