There are reports circulating in the media that a Russian court has sentenced an air defense officer who shot down a Russian Mi-8 over temporarily occupied Crimea in 2023. However, what captures our attention in this case is not so much yet another episode of "friendly fire" among the Russians, but rather how the Russian Ministry of Defense assessed its losses from this incident.
Moreover, this story provides yet another illustration of how the Russians operate with the cost metrics of their weaponry.
To be more specific, on the morning of October 18, 2023, one of the officers in the occupiers' air defense units in Crimea mistook the call sign of a detected low-speed aerial target, reported to the command that this object was located in a different area of airspace, and as a result, the "Tor-M2DT" system fired at the Mi-8MTV-5-1, resulting in the deaths of all three crew members of the helicopter.
The individual involved in the case received a three-year sentence in a settlement colony and is required to pay 3 million rubles to the widows of the deceased helicopter pilots and an additional 5 million rubles directly to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Interestingly, there is a notable indication that the Russian Ministry of Defense assessed the cost of the lost Mi-8MTV-5-1 at 200 million rubles, which it intended to recover from the offending officer.
This means we can use this as a reference point to estimate that, according to Russian pricing, those 200 million rubles represent the current value of a Mi-8 helicopter for the Russians.
Additionally, it is worth noting that the "friendly fire" incident occurred using the "Arctic" version of the "Tor" system, specifically designated as "Tor-M2DT," which differs from the basic version in its adaptability for operation in Arctic climate conditions, and also utilizes the DT-30PM-T1 tracked vehicle as its base.
If we return to the previously mentioned value of the Mi-8 at 200 million rubles, it can be compared to the earlier figure that the production cost of the Ka-52 was 1.1 billion rubles, while the Ministry of Defense during Shoigu's tenure purchased them for 0.9 billion rubles, leading to a production loss of 200 million rubles. This resulted in production losses of 200 million rubles.
The chain of comparisons can continue, for example, by mentioning that in one of the cases, the Russian Ministry of Defense assessed the cost of a downed Tu-22M3 along with an X-22 missile at only 97 million rubles, as revealed in August 2023. At the same time, it is also worth noting such an assessment - why it really makes no sense to calculate the cost of Russian weapons, especially in the case of aircraft.
Earlier, Defense Express also reported that in February 2024, Russia claimed the theft of several Mi-8s and Il-76s, which later aided the Armed Forces of Ukraine.