Russian Ka-52 "Alligator" combat helicopters have become an effective means of destroying drones thanks to the 30-mm 2A42 gun. This was pointed out by rocket scientist Alexey Vasiliev, author of the Telegram channel "Russian Engineer".
According to him, the use of shells with remote detonation is cheaper than guided missiles, and helicopters are much more mobile than ground-based anti-aircraft installations.
The effectiveness of drone spam is sharply reduced, because the number of shells in the ammunition load is much larger than the ammunition load of anti-aircraft missiles. Therefore, we are waiting for the formation of interceptor squadrons from lighter helicopters that are more optimal for this, so that heavy Ka-52s and Mi-28s do not run non-stop, knocking out their resource.
The main ground-based carriers of the 2A42 gun are BMP-2, BMD-2, BMD-3 and BTR-90. The BMPT "Terminator" has two of them at once.
Characteristics of 2A42:
The 30-mm automatic gun 2A42 features a variable rate of fire with the ability to switch between low (200–300 rounds/min) and high (at least 550 rounds/min) modes.
The gun is equipped with a dual-belt selective feed system that allows the operator to instantly choose between fragmentation and armor-piercing shells depending on the type of target.