Russian friendly fire reveals surprising helicopter costs
During the war in Ukraine, some of the aircraft and helicopters lost by the Russians were victims of friendly fire. One such aircraft was a Mi-8 helicopter, shot down over Crimea. The Russian soldier responsible for this was tried, and in publishing the verdict, the court revealed one of the secrets—the official price of the destroyed machine.
How did the mistaken shooting down of the Mi-8 helicopter occur? The Ukrainian service Defence Express presents details revealed during the trial. According to the Ukrainian service, a Russian officer from the anti-aircraft defence unit confused the call sign of the detected airborne target and then reported to his superiors that the detected object was in a different location from where it actually was.
As a result, the Mi-8MT helicopter was fired upon by the Tor-M2DT anti-aircraft system located in Crimea—an Arctic variant placed on the all-terrain vehicle DT-30PM-T, brought into the occupied territories. The helicopter was hit, resulting in the deaths of the three-person crew.
How much does a Mi-8 helicopter cost?
The verdict published after the trial, sentencing the officer to prison, revealed the details of the entire case and publicly disclosed the official price of the downed machine. According to the Russian court, the Mi-8MT (Mi-17M) costs 200 million rubles. For comparison, a Ka-52 costs 1.1 billion rubles, and the old Tu-22 has a value of 97 million rubles for Russia.
Commenting on the information contained in the verdict, the Ukrainian service also points out that the given prices are conventional. Their mechanical conversion, according to the current ruble exchange rate or—as was suggested due to exchange rate fluctuations—according to the value of Moscow real estate, leads to incorrect conclusions.
For example, according to such valuation, a Su-34 would cost over 100 million dollars—more than an F-35, which in no way reflects its market value. This cannot be reliably determined due to small-scale production, where each aircraft is as valuable as gold. Moreover, Russian production does not cover the losses resulting from military operations and the wear and tear of exploited machines.
