The helicopter was struck after lowering altitude when an explosion occurred. It later emerged that the Black Hawk had been hit by a drone loaded with explosives, before crashing in Los Toros near the village of Amalfi and being completely destroyed.
Colombia saw one of its deadliest days in years with two major FARC dissident attacks yesterday.
Antioquia: A police Black Hawk helicopter on a coca eradication mission was shot down by a drone with explosives, killing 12 officers and injuring 7—the first such drone strike in… pic.twitter.com/dcoreI2pFf
— Clash Report (@clashreport) August 22, 2025
Rescue teams who reached the crash site confirmed that most of the officers on board had died. Only three survivors were found.
Two recordings of the incident appeared online, one filmed by a witness and the other released by the attackers, identified as FARC rebels. They claimed responsibility, stating that they had used an FPV drone which struck the helicopter precisely.
Media reports note that Colombian rebels and drug cartels have been employing drones for over a year. Previously, Ukrainian forces used similar FPV drones to destroy at least two Russian helicopters, a Mi-8 and a Ka-52, with Colombian groups said to have learned these tactics from them.
A comparable attack occurred in Myanmar several months ago, when rebels destroyed a Mi-17 helicopter using a small FPV drone guided by a camera. All those on board were killed in the 23 May 2025 incident, underscoring the effectiveness of such systems against slow-flying aircraft and drones.
As a result of these developments, the Republic of Korea recently cancelled a planned purchase of additional Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian helicopters. In contrast, Poland’s Ministry of Defence ordered a record 96 of the same model at a cost of tens of billions of dollars, despite expectations that counter-drone techniques will continue to advance before delivery.
The destroyed aircraft in Colombia was a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, belonging to the PolicÃa Nacional de Colombia.
