The CNP helicopter was hit by a drone while “providing security to officers engaged in manual coca crop eradication efforts,” Antioquia Governor Andres Julian Rendon stated on X. “We have activated the hospital network and are closely monitoring this news, which is so painful for democracy and sad for our Forces. In that area, FARC dissidents and the Gulf Clan are operating.”
Video emerging from the scene shows the helicopters slowly approaching a landing zone. From the angle where the video was taken, the helicopter’s landing and the attack are obscured, but the sound of an explosion is heard and blackish gray smoke is seen wafting up.
The deadly downing of a Colombian National Police (CNP) UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter by a drone on Thursday is the latest sign of the growing vulnerability of rotary-wing aircraft to these attacks. While apparently the first such incident in the Western Hemisphere, the tactic was developed by Ukraine to strike Russian helicopters and has reportedly spread to Asia as well. The downing comes as militaries are rethinking the utility of helicopters due to myriad threats, including drones, which is a danger we have been warning about for years.
The CNP helicopter was hit by a drone while “providing security to officers engaged in manual coca crop eradication efforts,” Antioquia Governor Andres Julian Rendon stated on X. “We have activated the hospital network and are closely monitoring this news, which is so painful for democracy and sad for our Forces. In that area, FARC dissidents and the Gulf Clan are operating.”
Video emerging from the scene shows the helicopters slowly approaching a landing zone. From the angle where the video was taken, the helicopter’s landing and the attack are obscured, but the sound of an explosion is heard and blackish gray smoke is seen wafting up.
Continued here:
https://www.twz.com/air/colombian-black-hawk-downed-by-drone-is-a-glimpse-of-whats-to-come