- Ukraine’s Unmanned Programs Forces (USF) struck a Russian Mi-28 assault helicopter in flight over the Belgorod area with a SkyFall Shrike 10 FPV drone, hitting the helicopter from above
- The assault, which noticed a $400 drone strike and ‘kill’ a $19 million assault helicopter as per Skyfall, represents a formidable 47,500x trade ratio
- The assault is not remoted: Russia has misplaced over 20+ Mi-28s in related assaults for the reason that battle started in 2022
The Russia-Ukraine battle continues to increase because the latter continues to leverage uneven warfare to carry its personal in opposition to a rival with superior know-how and manpower, even because the battle heads into its fifth 12 months.
A lot of this is because of Ukraine’s pivot to home-grown drone and bot manufacturing, which helps to counter heavy Russian weaponry resembling tanks, helicopters, and APCs utilizing low cost however efficient drones and bots to carry the road.
It has additionally allowed a number of startups to hitch the fray, providing low-cost choices, usually funded by exterior companions and allies to bolster Ukraine’s warfare effort, and SkyFall’s Shrike 10 FPV drone is one in all them.
A powerful achievement, albeit with disputed claims
The Shrike 10 FPV drone, which prices lower than a mid-range smartphone, flew up alongside a Russian Mi-28 assault helicopter, climbed above it, and dove into its tail increase on the morning of the July 17, 2026, in Russia’s Belgorod area.
The strike was carried out by operators of the 427th Separate Unmanned Programs Brigade “Rarog,” and confirmed by Main Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Programs Forces (USF), who revealed the drone’s personal final-approach footage on Telegram with the terse caption that the “Evening Hunter” had gone “into the bottom.”
Ukrainian agency SkyFall, whose FPY drone, the Shrike 10, was concerned within the assault, said that it was priced at below $400 per unit. The Mi-28, per the identical firm, prices $19 million.
Whereas the headline is spectacular, the mathematics may not utterly take a look at: different sources put the price of the Mi-28 at roughly $15 million, whereas a latest cope with Germany (50,000 SkyFall-built FPV drones for Ukraine, fitted with autonomous concentrating on software program from US agency Auterion in a €90 million (~$103 million) deal) may imply that some liberties might have been taken to get to the $400 determine, although the Shrike 10 that attacked the Mi-28 could be in a different way configured or on the decrease finish of the spectrum.
The occasion, which sees Ukraine claiming a kill on what’s a dear a part of the Russian arsenal, is partially unconfirmed, with impartial observers stating that there isn’t a aftermath video and that assault helicopters usually survive and efficiently land after such hits. To Ukraine’s credit score, an identical kill, nonetheless, was reported in 2025 by the Ukrainian armed forces with footage to substantiate the crash that adopted.
No matter the sum, the truth that a drone that prices a ten-thousandth of an assault helicopter that has been retrofitted to hunt it may be a reputable predator of the identical is doubtlessly alarming, not just for the Russians however for navy planners the world over, even when the harm in query could be open to dispute.
That is additional corroborated by unverified sources claiming that the harm was ‘minor’ and didn’t have an effect on both of the helicopter’s two occupants on the time, thereby disputing a lot of SkyFall’s claims past the drone’s influence.
Russia’s protection ministry, nonetheless, has not commented instantly on the matter, and no open-source tracker resembling Oryx has confirmed imagery of any wreckage both.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lately stated the natiopn is producing 10 million drones a 12 months whereas vying for a manufacturing goal of 20 million drones sooner or later, a lot of it backed by international help, indicating that the Russian Mi-28, which has 20+ confirmed visible losses for the reason that battle started, continues to be each, an attacker and defender in opposition to drones of all sizes and styles
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