A Russian Ka-52 Helicopter crashed in Syria, killing two pilots.

A pair of Russian Ka-52 Alligator.

A Russian Ka-52 helicopter has crashed in Syria, killing both of the pilots. RT. The attack helicopter was destroyed during a "routine flight" in eastern Syria. Both pilots were killed in the crash, but their bodies have been recovered. The Russian military says it was due to a malfunction and not enemy action, though the results are preliminary. The crash was the 2nd deadly incident in a week, as Russia also lost an advanced Su-30SM to a probable bird strike, killing both the pilots. 

My Comment:

Rough couple of weeks for Russian aviation. They are losing some of their most advanced planes and helicopters there, not to mention the four pilots lost in action as well. And it's important to note that these are top of the line vehicles. The Ka-52 isn't the most advanced helicopter the Russians field, that would be the Mi-28 Havoc, but it is up there. And the SU-30SM is one of their newest and advanced fighter craft. 

How they are losing these vehicles is probably frustrating too. Of course these kinds of accidents always happen, even in peacetime. But it is always frustrating to lose lives over something as stupid as a birdstrike. Perhaps it is just me, but I would rather die in combat than to some stupid accident. 

Of course there is always a chance that these weren't accidents but were actually combat losses. Russia would probably hate to admit that one of their top of the line helicopters or a new fighter jet were taken down by ground fire from rebels. They would have a major motivation to lie about it. 

That being said, I think they are telling the truth. Why? Well like I said, these kinds of things happen all the time during war and even peace. Helicopters have performance issues and when they fail they tend to fail spectacularly. And jets suck birds into their engines all the time. Both of those explanations are entirely plausible. 

Not much else to say on this one. The main reason I posted about it is because I thought the Ka-52 is a cool looking helicopter and I really liked the picture on the RT article. I am generally interested in military aviation so whenever I get a chance to write a little bit about it, I will.