Ukrainian Military Helicopters Shoot Down Shahed Kamikaze Drones

Two videos, one posted on X/Twitter on Thursday and another on Telgram on Sunday seemed to confirm reports made by Ukraine’s air force command in late July that helicopters have been deployed to intercept and destroy Russian long-range Shahed-136 kamikaze drones.

Neither social media post mentions the dates, locations or even the units involved. They say that the missions were carried out by  Mi-8 (NATO: Hip) helicopters. The first is equipped with a nose-mounted machine gun, probably a PKT 7.62 x 54mm belt-fed general purpose machine gun (GPMG).

The video shows the machine gunner crouched over his weapon as the helicopter closes in on the Russian attack drone. The machine gunner then fires off several long bursts, the helicopter cockpit filling with smoke before the target drone explodes and falls to earth.

The military issues magazine Defense Express points out that the machine gunner is using a US-supplied Gentex HGU-56/P aircrew ballistic helmet (ABH) system, confirming that the video is showcasing a Ukrainian operation. It is noted thatRussians are also believed to use helicopters to intercept drones.

The sceond video also shows an Mi-8 rotary wing aircraft but this time the machine gunner engages the Shahed through the side door of the helicopter and after a few bursts, also from a PKT 7.62 x 54mm GPMG, the drone begins to smoke before plunging downwards out of shot.

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Neither video shows sufficient detail to confirm that the helicopters are anything more than standard Mi-8s, although both nose- and door-mounted machine guns are standard equipment for several varieties of the aircraft.

The Ukrainian Mi-8MTV2 (NATO: Hip-E) for instance is used for combat transport and utility purposes. It has six external hard points to carry a variety of weapons, including bombs, unguided rockets and machine guns. It is fitted with additional armor, new navigation and communication gear, a searchlight, and self-protection systems. 

Other variants are even more heavily armed. The Mi-8AMTSh-VN, a Russian variant, has Kord 12.7mm machine guns, remote-controlled weapon stations fitted at the side doors, and UPK-23-250 twin-barreled 23mm autocannon attached to the weapon wing stub pylons.