Pictures of Russian Aerial Door Gunners are scarce. Have you ever seen one before? I’m not sure I have. Today we have one for you, and it’s perfect for our Photo Of The Day.

The AK seems to be fed from standard magazines but mounted on a fixed pod inside the helicopter that also has a brass collector. It looks a bit chilly, to say the least.

Auto-translated from Russian:

During the tactical and special exercises, the BBO special forces conducted a training operation to suppress firing points of conditional terrorists from the air using Mi-8 AMTSh helicopters

The fighters also worked out techniques for conducting visual reconnaissance of the area from the helicopter, finding targets that mimic machine-gun nests, anti-aircraft installations and single terrorists.

Waiting to board the Mi-8 helicopter.

The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine helicopter mainly used for transporting. It is one of the most common operational military aircrafts.