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Video: Ukrainian Drone Shoots Down Helicopter With Surface-to-Air Missile

Drone
Courtesy GUR

Published Dec 31, 2024 2:42 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

On Tuesday, Ukraine's defense intelligence service (GUR) claimed that one of its drone boats had successfully shot down a Russian helicopter at sea - a first for any unmanned vessel in combat. Russian helicopters have previously engaged with missile-equipped Ukrainian surface drones, but this is the first time that an aircraft has been downed. 

Russian forces have begun deploying attack helicopters to locate and intercept Ukrainian drone boats at sea, before they can reach their targets in Crimea, Kerch Strait or Novorossiysk. During a skirmish off the coast of Cape Tarkhankut in the early hours of December 31, drones operated by the GUR's Group 13 encountered a Russian Mi-8 helicopter on patrol.

According to the GUR, the drone destroyed the Mi-8 helicopter using an R-73 "SeeDragon" missile. A second helicopter was targeted and hit, but survived and managed to return to shore, the agency claimed. 

The R-73 is a Soviet-era air-to-air missile dating to 1984, and upgraded versions are still in service today. It has a self-contained infrared seeker with wide-angle tracking capability, allowing it to lock on to targets up to 40 degrees off-axis (60 degrees in a modernized variant) - a valuable capability for a small-boat platform in rough surface conditions. It does not require a radar for targeting and has been field-adapted for a surface-to-air role before, with mixed success.

In a claimed radio intercept recording, the pilot of the downed Russian Mi-8 "panics and explains the nature and consequences of the fire damage to the side," the GUR said in an audio release. 

Russia's defense ministry has not confirmed the encounter, but said that its forces destroyed eight Ukrainian sea drones overnight on Dec. 30-31. One well-known Russian military blogger (milblogger), Voenny Osvedomitel, has confirmed the shoot-down.