A French TV crew from TF1 joined a Ukrainian volunteer air crew on a night mission to hunt Russian drones using an aging, propeller-driven Antonov An-28 cargo plane fitted with M134 miniguns.
The four-person team, civilians who volunteered to support the military, had been called in after drones were detected overhead.
“It’s 2 a.m. There are targets in the air to the southeast. We, as pilots, are trying to fight these drones with our planes, shooting them down with a machine gun,”
one pilot told TF1.
In −20°C (−5°F) cold, they readied the aircraft in under 10 minutes. The runway stayed dark, lit only by handheld torches. Guided by an air-defence controller, they flew toward active drones and searched using night-vision goggles and thermal cameras.
A drone appeared beneath the wing. Moments later, the gunner opened fire, tracer rounds streaking into the darkness before an explosion flashed below. The plane veered away to avoid debris and was directed to another target.
The M134 Gatling minigun fires 7.62×51mm NATO rounds at up to 6,000 per minute. Mounting it on a Soviet-era An-28 is unusual, though similar door-gunner setups are common on U.S. military helicopters.
On the next contact, the crew held fire, escorting the drone away from villages.
“We try to shoot them down in safe places—fields, forests—but never over houses,”
the pilot said. They destroyed it but took minor shrapnel damage.
At dawn, they were ordered to land—not because the mission was over, but because cruise missiles had been detected. During debrief, the airfield came under threat, prompting an emergency takeoff.
A pilot warned the stakes are rising as drones evolve, citing improvised reports of weapons found on downed Shaheds. TF1 noted the An-28 bore nearly 150 kill marks, five added that night—part of Ukraine’s low-cost answer to kamikaze drones.
Source: Kyiv Post