Video of a Russian training exercise shows a helicopter-grade machine gun spinning out of control on an improvised ground mount, flinging the operator off balance and nearly striking soldiers standing nearby.
The footage shows a YakB-12.7, a four-barrel rotary machine gun normally fitted to Mi-24 attack helicopters, bolted onto a fixed stand as part of what Russian units call a mobile fire group. As Special Kherson Cat notes below, the weapon carries massive angular recoil and needs proper horizontal fixation when adapted for ground use, something the setup in the video appears to lack.
The soldier operating the weapon appeared to misjudge the gun’s torque when he pulled the trigger, and the mount spun rapidly, throwing him out of frame while the gun kept firing. He can be seen reappearing moments later as other soldiers rush over to check on him, with laughter audible in the background, suggesting no serious injury.
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Russia’s Aerospace and Air Defense Forces have been building these mobile fire teams since March, adapting YakB-12.7s salvaged from helicopter mounts, some fitted with thermal sights and jammers, to shoot down Ukrainian drones before they reach fuel and ammunition convoys. The gun’s designers built it to fire from an electronically stabilized helicopter turret, not a manually operated stand, and other footage of the program has shown vehicle chassis swaying under the weapon’s recoil even when fired in short bursts.
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It remains unclear whether Russian forces will continue using helicopter-mounted guns this way, and the clip has added to renewed scrutiny of how far Russian units are improvising to counter the sustained Ukrainian drone campaign against their supply lines.
