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Could helicopters be used by Ukraine to shoot down Shahed drones?
The official Air Force report on repelling a massive Russian attack with Shahed-136/131 'kamikaze' drones on the night of July 31, 2024, noted for the first time since the full-scale invasion that army aviation was used to counter the UAVs
Defense Express suggests that helicopters were used to target the Shahed drones.
It's not yet clear what aircraft and weapons Ukraine used to counter the Russian drone attack. However, Defense Express provides examples suggesting that helicopters might have been part of the defense in this case.
According to military observers, while the idea of using helicopters to hunt down Russian drones might seem unusual at first glance, there have been several instances where helicopters were used or equipped to shoot down drones.
In October 2018 during the Joint Forces Operation, a Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopter shot down a Russian Orlan-10 reconnaissance UAV between Lysychansk and Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region using a machine gun mounted on the helicopter's nose.
In the fall of 2017, a photo surfaced showing a Mi-8 helicopter modified to potentially use R-73 air-to-air missiles, with a pylon from an early series MiG-29 installed.
During Soviet times, there were experiments with fitting R-60 missiles onto Mi-24 helicopters for air defense.
“Given that Russian forces are using Mi-28 attack helicopters to target Ukrainian long-range kamikaze drones, it makes sense for Ukraine to deploy helicopters as “air hunters” for Russian Shahed drones,” Defense Express concluded.
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On the night of July 31, the invading Russian army attacked Ukraine with 89 Shahed drones and a Kh-59 guided missile. Ukraine's air defense destroyed all enemy targets.
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