It may be the first time a drone has destroyed a helicopter in mid-air.

Ukrainian forces deploy more than 100,000 explosive first-person-view drones a month all along the 700-mile front line of Russia’s 28-month wider war on Ukraine. The drones smash into armored vehicles, chase down exposed infantry and follow artillery fire back to its origin in order to target Russian howitzers.

And today one of the small quadcopter drones—remotely steered by an operator wearing a virtual-reality headset—shot down a Russian helicopter, apparently for the first time.

Photos and videos that circulated on social media depict the Mil Mi-8 transport helicopter burning near Donetsk in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. “A speedy recovery to the survivors,” one Russian blogger wrote.

This new use of explosive drones has been a long time coming. As long ago as September, Ukrainian operators first tried ramming their flying robots into Russian helicopters mid-flight. The drone threat got so serious that the Russian air force began assigning some helicopters to escort other helicopters.

  • Rhaedas
    18•4 months ago

    Bringing down a helicopter is just a matter of removing the miracle that keeps it up there. I’ve always been wary of them, but after seeing that one tragic Ring video of the small helicopter that just came apart in midair and a straight plummet down. Never. I mean they are great strategically, but when they fail…it’s pretty complete.

    • ShadowEnglish
      24•4 months ago

      FYI it’s not a miracle keeping it up there, it’s science.

      And no, any failure is not “pretty complete”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation

      The most common use of autorotation in helicopters is to safely land the aircraft in the event of an engine failure or tail-rotor failure. It is a common emergency procedure taught to helicopter pilots as part of their training.

      • Null User ObjectEnglish
        37•4 months ago

        They don’t actually fly. They’re just so ugly that the Earth repels them.

        • @theluckyoneEnglish
          10•4 months ago

          I used to be scared to fly in a helicopter. Then I learned how they fly. Now I’m scared when they fly overhead.

        • @Vandals_handleEnglish
          7•4 months ago

          Knew a carrier based Navy search and rescue swimmer, he always said “Helicopters don’t fly, they beat gravity into submission.”

        • @foofiepieEnglish
          1•4 months ago

          You almost made me snort peas.

      • @ValmondEnglish
        2•4 months ago

        Have you heard of the jesus nut?

        • ShadowEnglish
          11•4 months ago

          Yep, but a single mission critical part and everything else being survivable is a far cry from “any failure is pretty complete”.

          • @ValmondEnglish
            2•4 months ago

            True.

            Still scary af though :-)