A first-person point-of-view video shows the crew member in the rear seat of a Ukrainian Yak-52 shooting with a rifle at a Russian Geran drone, which later detonates in a powerful explosion.
A video that emerged on Mar. 24, 2026, shows a Russian Geran-type One-Way Attack (OWA) drone exploding mid-air after being engaged by an automatic weapon fired from the rear seat of a Ukrainian Yak-52 trainer. Ukraine had employed the Soviet-era piston trainer since 2024 for shooting various types of Russian drones, including Orlan-10 and Geran drones.
Based on the available videos of the interceptions, we had concluded that these usually see a crew member in the rear seat of the aircraft engaging the drones with standard hand-held small arms. The latest video shows the rear crew member firing around eight rounds at the Geran kamikaze drone, which then detonates in the air in a massive and powerful explosion.
The decision to adopt this method instead of wing-mounted or podded machine guns is owing to the technically challenging and tedious airframe modifications that would be required. Russia had similarly repurposed its own Yak-52 fleet for the role, with an image showing a modified aircraft equipped with a shotgun and an electro-optical system.
The interception of a Russian Shahed/Geran-type long-range OWA-UAV with a firearm by a Ukrainian serviceman flying on board a Yak-52 piston-engine trainer aircraft. pic.twitter.com/5JvFY00E0e
— Status-6 (War & Military News) (@Archer83Able) March 24, 2026
Reports quoting Russian officials called it the Yak-52B2 upgrade, which also included multifunctional display in the rear cockpit, navigation systems and a new “electronic warfare systems for suppressing communication channels.” We are however yet to see any of the Russian Aerospace Forces’s (RuAF) Yak-52 in action, especially considering Russia faces an equally challenging and menacing Ukrainian asymmetric drone threat.
Latest video
The video shows the footage was clearly captured in a first-person point of view from the rear cockpit, with the crew member holding a weapon, which appears to be a short-barrelled rifle with a picatinny rail and a sighting system. The gun is fired in a semi-automatic mode, with at least eight rounds being let off until the drone explodes, separated by a considerable distance.
The practice of pulling up near a target aircraft and engaging it with a hand-held or a mounted gun, used by a crew member in the rear seat, harks back to biplane engagements in World War 1. Later on, this practice was replaced by machine guns timed to shoot through the propellers.
Insane footage coming from Ukraine today. First clip you can find shows a Russian Shahed drone striking the center of Lviv. Then, one of a Russian long-range one-way attack drone is gunned down with a firearm by a Ukrainian serviceman flying aboard a Yak-52 trainer aircraft. The… pic.twitter.com/gqLaT2vJIW
— The Aviationist (@TheAviationist) March 24, 2026
In a previous video, we had seen a Ukrainian Yak-52 in flight, with the rear crew member pulling out something, which we concluded at the time was a gun. The weapon however never came into full view.
Another recent video of a Russian attack in Lviv, in western Ukraine, also shows a Geran drone striking a building – among the hundreds of such Geran strikes on Ukrainian targets that Russia has carried out. A primary goal of the Gerans was to overwhelm Ukrainian command and control with massive volleys to cover the Kh-101 ALCM and Iskander land-fired tactical surface-strike missiles.
However, the Geran has also been used for targeted strikes into dense city centers, taking out key civilian-military targets, where the above missiles would be outsized.
Ukrainian Yak-52 which is used to hunt down Russian reconnaissance UAVs over the southern Ukraine.
Video from a Russian drone. https://t.co/5Ba0xy7cWM pic.twitter.com/99havoXGSf
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 8, 2024
The Yak-52
The Yakovlev Yak-52 is a Soviet-era primary trainer designed by the Yakovlev Design Bureau, which first flew in 1976. It is a two-seat, single-engine, all-metal monoplane with a low-wing configuration. The Yak-52 is commonly used in aerobatic displays during airshows, with its robust airframe making it popular among aerobatics enthusiasts and airshow performers.
The Yak-52 is powered by a single Vedeneyev M-14P radial engine, providing sufficient power for aerobatic maneuvers and training flights. The aircraft has a tandem seating arrangement, with the student pilot sitting in the front and the instructor pilot in the rear. This configuration allows for effective training and communication between the pilot and instructor.
🛡️🇷🇺Yak-52B2’nin uçuş görüntüleri https://t.co/d39f9sAKbU pic.twitter.com/oo64s5IPF1
— Defence Turk (@Defence_Turk) May 19, 2025
Variants of the Yak-52 have also been used for the light attack roles, equipped with underwing hardpoints to carry machine gun pods or unguided rockets. The aircraft’s slow stall speed makes it perfect for SMI (Slow Movers Intercept) missions.
Ukraine has also similarly used its own helicopters like the Mi-8 with door-mounted PKM-type and Miniguns to shoot down Russian drones, along with smaller anti-UAV Sting interceptor drones.
