Ukraine Is Leaning on Helicopter Crews to Take Out Russian Drones

Ukraine is using its helicopters as drone-killers, and they are proving so effective that Kyiv plans to boost employment to fend off relentless Russian attacks.

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi told reporters recently that helicopters are becoming an integral part of the military’s air defense mission, sharing that when the weather permits, helicopters can sometimes shoot down up to 40% of the drones in an area.

The plan is to lean into that further for air defense, he said.

That could mean outfitting helicopters with advanced sensors — like thermal and infrared systems — so they can better spot Russian drones even at night and in bad weather.

In August, the general said Ukraine had used helicopters to shoot down more than 3,200 Russian Shahed-type drones in the past year. These are the Iranian-designed one-way attack drones that Russia is using on a large scale.

Ukraine’s military has shared multiple videos over the last few months that show its helicopters hitting Russian drones. One shows a Ukrainian Mi-24 attack helicopter downing a Shahed with its gun.

Other footage filmed from inside a cockpit shows a Ukrainian soldier using a door-mounted machine gun to eliminate a Russian drone.

Helicopters, like other crewed combat aircraft, have been vulnerable in this war, especially near the front lines, where shoulder-fired missiles and other air defenses threaten anything flying, demanding either cautious employment or the restriction of activities to positions that are farther from the front.

Air assets are high-value targets, and while there aren’t any confirmed tallies, combat footage from the war suggests that many aircraft have been lost on both sides. Ukraine says that it has downed a host of Russian helicopters using a range of weapons, including missiles launched from naval drones and cheap aerial drones.

Helicopters are often used for logistics or special missions. Air defense against loitering munitions appears to be an area where they offer growing utility.

Ukraine desperately needs any help it can get with air defenses as it faces constant Russian missile and drone barrages. Russia can launch hundreds in a single night at targets across Ukraine, both military and civilian.

Ukraine has repeatedly suffered from shortages of air defenses and interceptors, preventing it from wasting expensive missiles on inexpensive attack drones. In this situation, it’s turned to other solutions, from mounted machine guns in pickup trucks to the new interceptor drones. It’s even looked at AI-enabled automated turrets for taking out incoming drones.

The interceptor drones are promising, and Syrskyi has said that Ukraine is forming an Unmanned Air Defense Forces branch, which will have units that are equipped with interceptors to take out Russian Shaheds.

The general also said that Ukraine is considering buying purpose‑built light aircraft that have machine gun mounts to take on drones. There have been previous reports of Ukrainian pilots in propeller-driven planes engaging drones with guns.

Ukraine has realized that it needs cheaper systems alongside advanced ones like the US-made Patriots. Each Patriot interceptor missile can cost $4 million.

It has been a wake-up call for the West, too, with its militaries and NATO recognizing a lack of ground-based defenses compared to what would be needed in a high-end conflict.