Ukraine’s Mi-8 gets drone interceptor launchers to hunt Shaheds

Ukraine has mounted interceptor drone launchers on a Mi-8 helicopter, with footage of the system shown in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Independence Day address, Militarnyi reported.

The footage shows an interceptor launching from beneath one of the helicopter’s hardpoints, using simple metal launch rails mounted under the airframe. The drone is likely controlled either from inside the Mi-8’s cabin or remotely through Starlink, according to the outlet.

The helicopter carries at least three launch rails on each side, room for six interceptors in total. Militarnyi also reported the aircraft is likely fitted with an optical system for spotting aerial targets visually. The outlet did not disclose the unit flying the helicopter, the interceptor’s manufacturer, or when the modification entered service.

Ukraine has already fielded a similar concept on a fixed-wing aircraft. The Defence Blog reported in April 2026 that Ukrainian pilot Tymur Fatkullin had converted an Antonov An-28 light turboprop into an airborne interceptor platform, arming it with wing-mounted P1-Sun and Merops AS-3 Surveyor interceptor drones. Fatkullin said at the time that the aircraft-launched interceptor method had already proven effective against Shaheds in combat, not just in testing.

“Aircraft-launched P1-Sun interceptor against hostile Shaheds. This method has already proven effective in real combat conditions. We have also tested several other interceptor drones during training flights. You could call it a cheap air-to-air missile. For us, it is also a step toward technology that will allow drones to operate in zero visibility,” Fatkullin said.

The An-28, a Soviet-era transport aircraft never designed for intercept work, also carries a six-barrel M134 Minigun alongside its interceptor pylons. As of May 2026, the converted aircraft had destroyed 213 enemy drones using a combination of its onboard weapons and interceptor drones, part of a mix of tactics rather than interceptors alone.

The new Mi-8 configuration follows the same underlying logic as the An-28 conversion: use an aircraft already in the air to carry interceptors aloft, giving crews altitude, loiter time, and the ability to vector toward a target using onboard sensors before release, rather than relying only on ground-launched interceptors or gun-armed helicopters.

Ukrainian Mi-8 crews have engaged Shahed-type drones since at least 2024, but earlier missions relied on door-mounted or nose-mounted machine guns rather than dedicated interceptor drones. Footage from those operations showed gunners firing 7.62 mm PKT machine guns, and in some cases U.S.-supplied M134 miniguns, sometimes with a second helicopter carrying an optical tracking system to guide the engagement.

Ground-launched interceptor drones have separately become a larger part of Ukraine’s air defense mix through 2026. Zelensky has said interceptors have downed dozens of Shaheds in single overnight Russian attacks, and Ukrainian groups such as Wild Hornets have scaled production of systems like STING in response.