Friendly fire exposes the costly truth of Russian aircraft losses
During the war in Ukraine, some of the aircraft and helicopters lost by the Russians were victims of friendly fire. One of these machines was a Mi-8 helicopter, shot down over Crimea. The Russian soldier responsible for this was tried, and during the publication of 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? Details revealed during the trial are presented by the Ukrainian service Defence Express. 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 than 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 positioned on the all-terrain vehicle DT-30PM-T, brought into the occupied territories. The helicopter was struck, resulting in the death 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 roubles. For comparison, a Ka-52 costs 1.1 billion roubles, and the old Tu-22 has a value of 97 million roubles 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 rouble 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, and Russian production does not cover the losses resulting from military operations and the wear and tear of exploited machines.
