Video: Ukrainian Helicopter Uses US M134 Minigun to Shoot Down Russian Geran Drone

Ukrainian Helicopter Shoots Down Russian Drone Using American M134 Minigun

A Ukrainian soldier filmed a refurbished Soviet-era helicopter fitted with an American M134 minigun destroying a Russian Geran reconnaissance drone. The footage, credited to Instagram user @aero.tim, shows the helicopter climbing to intercept the drone and engaging it with sustained fire.

Over the past year, Kyiv’s forces have increasingly used helicopters in a short-range air-defence role. Many Russian drones fly at altitudes above the reach of ground-based small arms, so helicopters that climb to shadow and engage these unmanned aircraft can intercept them before they dive toward their targets.

Mounting an M134 makes practical sense in this context. The US-made minigun fires 7.62 mm rounds at extremely high rates — up to 6,000 rounds per minute — and uses ammunition that is far cheaper than conventional air-defence missiles. That cost advantage has become important as Ukraine faces repeated massed waves of Iranian-designed Shahed drones, known in Russian service as Geran.

Faced with limited stocks of interceptor missiles, Ukrainian forces have improvised a variety of tactics to conserve expensive interceptors for the most dangerous threats. Adapting rotary guns to helicopters is one such field expedient: it provides a mobile, cost-effective way to counter high-flying, lower-cost drones.

Footage credit: Instagram / @aero.tim

Context: The strikes reflect a broader trend in the conflict: creative, low-cost adaptations to blunt massed drone attacks while preserving scarce missile stocks for higher-value threats.