Russians' Test Of New Anti-Drone Gun Goes Awry

Bolting a four-barrel, heavy machine gun to the bed of a truck proved to be unwise.
By Ed Scarce — July 13, 2026

I thought this was AI slop at first, as it's so ridiculous. The punch at the end seems authentically Russian, too.

Source: International Business Times

Russian troops testing a new anti-drone 'mobile fire unit' almost killed one of their own soldiers when a repurposed helicopter machine gun spun out of control and sprayed bullets across a training ground.

In video widely shared by military bloggers this week, a Yak-B 12.7mm heavy machine gun, hastily mounted on a flatbed truck, can be seen whipping round at high speed, hurling the primary gunner from his position and sending live fire in all directions during an undisclosed exercise.

The incident comes as Moscow steps up efforts to counter Ukrainian drone attacks that have struck deep inside occupied territory and repeatedly disrupted key logistics and supply lines towards Crimea. Local commanders have rushed to field improvised defences to shield vulnerable convoys from unmanned aircraft.

Russian forces have increasingly relied on forming specialised 'mobile fire units' tasked with intercepting medium-range Ukrainian drones before they can hit trucks and fuel tankers. The newly surfaced video shows the testing of one such system.

Troops had taken a Yak-B 12.7 heavy machine gun, a rotary weapon designed primarily for the turrets and gun pods of Mi-24 attack helicopters, and bolted it onto the back of a standard military transport vehicle.

Helicopter gunships are built to absorb the torque and recoil generated by a four-barrel weapon firing thousands of rounds a minute. Flatbed trucks are not.

Ukrainians were born to meme.

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