Ukraine War: Watch British Martlet Missiles Take Hit a Helicopter – Video footage shared online this week shows a British-supplied Martlet LMM multirole missile taking down a Russian helicopter somewhere in eastern Ukraine.
In a clip shared by Ukraine Weapons Tracker, a popular Twitter account that shares videos and reports about the weapons used in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the British missile can be seen striking a Russian helicopter in the air.
“Today, the UK-supplied LMM multirole missile proved that it could work against more than just UAVs; the Ukrainian 95th Air Assault Brigade scored a hit against a Russian helicopter in the East,” Ukraine Weapons Tracker wrote on Monday.
“The aircraft, said to be a Ka-52 attack helicopter, appears to crash.”
In the one-minute-long video, a missile can be seen being launched from a crop field. The missile is seen traveling far into the distance, easily noticeable as a black dot in the sky. After a few seconds, the black dot can be seen striking an aircraft causing an explosion in the sky.
The aircraft then begins quickly falling to the ground, landing in the trees in the distance.
It is unclear, however, whether the craft was destroyed. Some suggested that the lack of visible fire or smoke following the craft as it fell to appeared to fall towards the ground could suggest that the pilots initiated an emergency landing.
What Is the Martlet LMM?
The Thales Martlet missile, also known as the Lightweight Multirole Missile or LMM, is a precision-guided missile designed to be fired from rotary-winged UAVs, surface platforms, and tactical platforms.
Manufacturer Thales says that the system is “designed to provide a rapid reaction to a wide range of the surface threats from wheeled or tracked vehicles, towed artillery or static installations; naval threats from small ships and fast inshore attack craft and an air threat from light aircraft.”
The missile has a launch weight of 13kg. It is 1.3m long and has a hull diameter of 76mm.
#Ukraine: Today, the UK-supplied LMM multirole missile proved that it could work against more than just UAVs; the Ukrainian 95th Air Assault Brigade scored a hit against a Russian helicopter in the East.
The aircraft, said to be a Ka-52 attack helicopter, appears to crash. pic.twitter.com/TqQpYRGRBK
— ?? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 27, 2022
The British Ministry of Defence first placed an order for 1,000 missiles in 2013, but delays in manufacturing and deliveries meant that the missiles did not arrive until last year. Some of those missiles have since been donated to Ukraine.
Several reports have described how the Martlet LMM has been used in Ukraine to strike Russian unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance vehicles. The latest video shows how effective these missiles may be in taking down manned aircraft, including armed attack helicopters.
“In the weeks and months to come, we will see more and more of these videos hit social media, as Russia and Ukraine will get even more desperate to try and claim some sort of victory, even though all indications suggest a war of attrition with no clear victor,” explained Harry J. Kazianis, President of the Rogue States Project and a seasoned defense expert.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
