Can This 90s Russian Jet Stop Modern Ukrainian Drones?

Russia has a brand-new “drone fighter…” At least that’s what their state media says. The real story? It’s a 1990s jet trainer wearing a drone-hunter costume and hoping nobody asks too many questions.

Today we’re taking a closer look at the Yak-130M, Russia’s attempt to turn a flight-school jet into a savior for their failing air-defense network.

The Yak-130 was originally designed to teach rookie pilots how not to crash. It was never intended to chase Ukrainian drones over refineries hundreds of kilometers from the front. But thanks to Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign torching oil depots and airbases inside Russia, the Kremlin needed a quick fix, something they could parade on TV and call “innovation.”

So what did they do?
✔ Bolted on a radar
✔ Added a laser targeting pod
✔ Wired in a self-protection suite
✔ Called it a drone hunter
✔ Fired up the propaganda machine

Problem: the upgraded jet still can’t reliably detect small, low-flying wooden drones. And the guided rockets it might one day fire? They’re not in serial production. A prototype weapon for a prototype aircraft: what could go wrong?

In this video, I break down:
• Why Russia is robbing its own pilot training program just to field a PR aircraft
• The brutal math of trying to intercept cheap FPV drones with expensive jets
• How Ukraine keeps bending the battlefield faster than Russia can respond
• Why the Yak-130M is more about optics than operational reality
• The real kill-chain issue: Russia can shoot… but not find

The truth is this: one photo-op “drone kill” does not equal a functioning doctrine. Russia is trying to plaster high-tech upgrades onto Cold War tactics, and the result looks more like a comedy sketch than a revolution in air defense.

I’ll walk through all the technical upgrades, what works, what doesn’t, and why this thing is still far closer to a flying PowerPoint presentation than a game-changer.

Glory to Ukraine. Glory to the heroes. And yes… Crimea is Ukraine.

tldr: Is Russia's Yakolev Yak-130 really fit for modern air combat? This video examines the Yak-130's potential role in the Russia Ukraine War and its place within the Russian Air Force. We discuss if this trainer aircraft can truly compete with modern military aircraft and become a capable fighter trainer, or if it's just another example of struggling Russian technology.

Video Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T...

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