> And can still take on fixed wing aircraft,” including fourth, fifth, and even sixth-generation fighters, at least to some degree, is important, he continued. Crewed helicopters are still part of the threat picture, as well.
You can see how the Anglos are still way out of the loop when it comes to the latest developments in land-warfare not-involving Middle-Eastern goat-herders, as in this guy should have known that the Russian Ka-52s were pretty decisive in stopping the 2023 Ukrainian summer counter-offensive (that, and the Russian mine-fields), so that adding helicopters at the very end, with "btw, yeah, helis are still a thing" is quite disingenuous, if not stupid.
Also, dismissing "unmanned systems" (I think he means cheap drones):
> “They’re not particularly expensive. Their impact is probably way outsized.”
is also pretty damn stupid, as both the Russians and the Ukrainians could confirm.
lazide · 4m ago
He’s literally just downplaying their weaknesses/competition, as any salesman is going to do. Expensive (or even relatively cheap!) manpads make no sense vs drones economically, and manpads vs low flying/nap of the earth helicopters, especially in forested terrain have always been of limited effectiveness.
If you have the budget, still worth buying to have in the quiver, but they’re playing to the older more conservative players not selling the new hotness and they know it.
You can see how the Anglos are still way out of the loop when it comes to the latest developments in land-warfare not-involving Middle-Eastern goat-herders, as in this guy should have known that the Russian Ka-52s were pretty decisive in stopping the 2023 Ukrainian summer counter-offensive (that, and the Russian mine-fields), so that adding helicopters at the very end, with "btw, yeah, helis are still a thing" is quite disingenuous, if not stupid.
Also, dismissing "unmanned systems" (I think he means cheap drones):
> “They’re not particularly expensive. Their impact is probably way outsized.”
is also pretty damn stupid, as both the Russians and the Ukrainians could confirm.
If you have the budget, still worth buying to have in the quiver, but they’re playing to the older more conservative players not selling the new hotness and they know it.