Photo: Kamov Ka-31 helicopter landing on the deck of a U.S. Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser

April 12, 2012 Helicopters

David Cenciotti

During the Cold War, such type of helicopter would have been shot down by a U.S. warship.

However, on Apr. 11, 2012, as the following picture shows, a Kamov Ka-31 helicopter belonging to the Indian Navy landed on the flight deck of the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) during Malabar 2012, a regularly scheduled naval exercise conducted to advance multinational maritime relationships and mutual security issues.

Image credit: U.S. Navy

Japan worried about Russian and Chinese intelligence-gathering planes during North Korean missile launch (theaviationist.com)

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.