$1,000 drones vs. Russian Mi-28, Mi-8: Which Ukrainian UAV took down two Russian helicopters?

The UNITED 24 platform recently released footage showing SBU drone operators from Center "A" in action on the frontlines. The video shared intriguing details about how, last year, they managed to strike two Russian helicopters while airborne.

According to Defense Express, an unnamed drone targeted and hit a Russian Mi-28 attack helicopter. Just days later, a similar incident occurred involving a Mi-8 transport helicopter. 

These marked the first known instances of helicopters being hit mid-flight by drones. It turned out that both helicopters were struck not by a standard quadcopter-style FPV drone or anti-aircraft drone as previously thought, but by the Ukrainian-made Darts UAV.

The Darts is an FPV wing drone, meaning it is controlled similarly to traditional FPV quadcopters but features a fixed-wing design. This gives it a larger payload capacity, longer range, and faster speed than typical quadcopters, all while costing roughly $1,000. 

It can carry a warhead weighing 4 to 5 kilograms up to distances of 40 to 50 kilometers and can reach speeds around 160 km/h. By comparison, it’s similar to the Russian "Molniya" drone, which can carry up to 10 kilograms but has a shorter range of about 30 kilometers.

In the video, drone operators emphasize that the helicopters were “shot down,” not merely damaged. 

However, no objective evidence has yet been released to fully confirm this, so it is only certain that the helicopters sustained damage or were hit. Whether drones have successfully targeted critical helicopter components from such angles remains a matter of debate.