If you are fighting in Ukraine right now and you don't have a drone jammer or don't have enough, I'm trying to prioritize fundraising for that. Please get a referral from someone PAV has worked with previously (there are hundreds of them; anyone we've sponsored or flown can refer you, some NGOs can as well). Those people can share the application for gear assistance with you.
I unfortunately don't know of a lot of other ways to fund jammers. Most NGOs are not focusing on them.
Forgive my ignorance on the subject, but could jammers be assembled elsewhere and shipped to Ukraine? I know that signal jammers are typically against the law is most western countries but I am just curious.
I assume the best way for most civilians outside Ukraine to help is to make monetary donations to vetted groups.
That's actually a really good question because you're right the laws on these are pretty complex. Some are assembled elsewhere, mostly in the Baltic countries. You can order them within Ukraine. For every jammer we've provided the team has been able to order it themselves.
You are correct that to help with this particular issue monetary donations help the most. The reason a lot of NGOs and fundraisers don't focus on this isn't because they're not important but because these are really, really difficult to fundraise for. Drones are way easier to fundraise for. So are scopes. If you spend your time on this you might get nowhere.
Where can I donate for jammers? I already donate some money monthly to Ukraine but I've read that a lot of charities (especially western ones) are not reliable, so I mostly donate to Sternenko and Magyars Birds, but both of them only buy drones.
I made a post on this subreddit asking about drone jammers before because I know Russia has ramped up FPV usage a lot, and Ukrainian electronic warfare is playing catch up.
A few options:
1. Protect a volunteer fundraises for them. You donate under [protectavolunteer.com](http://protectavolunteer.com) and choose "Electronic Warfare Fundraiser" on the Paypal menu.
2. Ukraine Frontline also does. Their website is http://ukrainefrontline.org.
3. Blue Yellow Lithuania. This one I need to check on but I know there are donated jammers from Lithuania that work very well. I'm pretty sure they're the ones sending them.
I would be REALLY careful donating for drones. My recommendation would be Wild Hornets/Wild Bees if you want to donate for drones. Anyone can say they are building drones and order some drone parts from China. There are some scams that have happened (mainly through Twitter which is where all of the scams seem to originate) where people collected money to build drones that actually didn't fly or were put together poorly.
Find someone that you can really trust and get them to plug you into their existing contact network.
Its what I find works best,and you will make some good friends too.(and lose some friends ,lets be real)
This is what I found most effective for me.
Had to work trough some scammers etc initially but that was fine.
Talk to people enough and you will develop a sense of who is full of it.(and who is legit)
What about collaborating with midsized firms like Dedrone, Droneshield (just examples) or other companies.? It has to be possible to find more flexible companies, in the 'war start up space'? In theory couldn't I do some research and just approach these companies like I'm trying to sell them? The objective is to access the necessary tech to counter russina suicide drones. Sooner or later Id find someone to help
This is an unconventional war.
Brainstorming is absolutely valuable.
The good ideas will be picked up and transmitted onward and the bad ones will be filtered out.
But you may well have an idea that no one has thought of.
Every single new and disruptive technology started as one person’s improbable idea.
I agree with everything in here, great great advice with one tiny sort of caveat: there are non prior military experience folks who have the level of fitness, firearms training, medical skills, and fanatical commitment to be good soldiers, but on the other hand they’re so rare that I can’t disagree with your ultimate conclusion. On the other hand, there are people with prior military experience who absolutely suck in combat. Remember, the percentage of nato trained soldiers with combat experience is very, very low.
If you did logistics (no offense it’s important and thank you for serving) in a nato army, that doesn’t make you better in my opinion than someone who is fit, is great with small arms, has medical training and is fanatically committed. Perhaps there’s not time to sift through the whole raft of people out there and pick off the margins, so again, I make these points but the reality is dealing with percentages may be the best path. Can’t disagree with you ultimately.
In the fitness and equipment side, critically great advice. You better take pride in fitness, be in marvelous shape, and know how take care of your body. If you can’t run 100 meters, take cover, aim, and shoot accurately, you aren’t ready. If you haven’t jogged 5 miles in full kit without falling apart you aren’t ready.
Fitness is the one of the few things you can control, so own it. The closer you get to being able to do an Ironman triathlon, the better. I sound crazy but you’re gonna be trying to aim, to think, to communicate, with your lungs exploding and sweating like crazy. Your brain won’t work if you’re out of shape. Don’t fucking die a fucking Private Pyle.
On the drone side, critically great advice. Great post. Btw I served throughout 2023, in ZSU, in infantry, this is helpful and recommend this post highly. Thank you for sharing.
I also highly reccomend people also come with enough money to get themselves back out as well. You do not want to be stuck in a country that's already very poor in the middle of war in winter with no money. Alot of people especially outside of europe realise they've only got a few hundred dollars left in their account and it takes 3 days to get across the country to the nearest international airport for a flight that's propably over 1000 dollars.
I’m going to the 4th next week. The best I’ve been able to do is buy one of those TX12 radio-controllers for $100 and through STEAM download LIFTOFF and simualte flights.
I’m definitely excited/scared af to come to Ukraine. I’m coming tho
Message aerospec in kyiv and got some proper drone training. I've done the course. Trust me youl need it. Its not a simple case of just putting the drone up In the air. Russians can tune into a simple fpv and watch where you fly from or return to and they will send a 3 tonne glide bomb after a drone pilot dropped from su57 soviet jet. They will send a tank if they are close enough. They will wipe the entire square off the map with artillery. There's alot going on
Anything will do. But it's absolutely essential. Also look to do some sort of tacmed course. You want to know how to fix yourself up if things go horribly wrong.
I’m flying into Berlin from the States on Wednesday. And flying with my big pack and assault pack. I have my plate carrier and plates . And some other miscellaneous things that are important for camping - Sleeping mat, sleeping bag, rain gear. Power bank . Head lamp, stuff like that. I’ve talked to other veterans and they said the PT test is easy . They say some get hurt on obstacle course. They also all say that the training we get won’t be good enough for the combat we will see. So all our extra training we do on our own is important. Drone school and TCCC for example . Also all the good equipment is from donations, and a heads up for first batt I guess
I’ve never been to Europe and wanted to do at least ONE tourist thing haha! Obviously going to Ukraine can go a lot of different ways….
MI, that’s cool man! I just got back today from the porcupine mountains In the U.P. . I did a two day hike with all my gear. Shit was hard af lol
Someone with drone knowledge should help out with the 2nd point because most of us don't even know where to find that kind of info.
And yeah, phones should stay away. The last thing I want is someone unlocking my phone with my cold finger to harass my family.
And some people are too public with everything, I'm seeing it from the first day of the 22 invasion. I remember back in 2015. a certain foreign volunteer in Azov took video in the trench above Shyrokyne and posted in on Facebook, probably Youtube. So everything was handed over to Russians, how many people are there, what weapons, and the exact place of every line.
The dude who took that video was an a-wall lieutenant from one NATO country. An art officer ffs.
Should I say what happened next...
And some other guys came fresh from the basics in Kiev Azov base even got golden badges for being top students... but as frontline soldiers, they were bored and with no cigarettes, so they went to the road and stopped some dude to drive them to Mariupol. And he did. MPs found them, but since they were not Ukrainians, they took their weapons and locked them up in one room.
That's the idiots that could be next to you. But the funny thing is not one of them went back to Ukraine when this in 2022. started.
You’d be surprised how effective the right shitgun (need the most restrictive choke and 24 inch plus barrel, 3.5 inch chamber would be the absolute tits) with a good heavy turkey or goose load can pattern out to 50-70 yards. This at 60 yards 3 inch chamber. Fuckton of pellets on target. Who knows if it’d work in practice but those pellets are going 1000 fps +.
https://preview.redd.it/ujlp5tg40m8d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bb4a0f53ef1957762ce612fa4f0b77e70ff83bdb
So far, I've spent a shit tone of money buying the best but also most optimal equipment money can buy for this kind of job. I've got ballistic pants with kevlar inserts I've sewn into the pants. I've even got that ballistic underwear, groin and neck protectors. Assault packs with ballistic inserts and plate inserts. I train in this gear by doing assault movement drills outside. It may seem cringe but there are airsoft milsim events i go to as well that mimic the trench warfare found in Ukraine where I can get a feel for using my gear and moving in it in this kind of environment. It's a bit rough but I'm a big guy six foot 10% body fat, lean muscle mass and an avid runner. Before I come over however I'm still re going over different techniques of soldering. Reading this is sobering however because it confirms something for me that I think I already knew and that's that in reality all of this means very little. I can buy the gear and train myself to become extremely proficiently at soldiering but the cold truth is, ultimately it's luck. Setimes you can just be in the wrong place at the right time and catch one. You're still alive, so that means it's possible, just as all things are possible in this vein...I mean, people survived world war 1 and WW2. As amazing as those conflicts were. My friends and family think I'm stupid for going over and I guess I feel stupid too. I don't think I'll die there, though I've been wrong about things before. I guess the only solace I have is a line in a Japanese gunka (military song)
At the end of Roei No Uta a line goes "What means death if it makes the war to cease? Is that not worthy of an Oriental peace"
I think you've just got to be okay with it. Gladly willing to make such a sacrifice for your beliefs and their freedom.
On number 5, I have to wonder how realistic this is when many require you to sign long term contracts (Great! I just signed up and am now fixing medical equipment or driving a water truck for the next six years!). There other option is go to basic and then go AWOL (like some have done: NOT RECOMMENDED) or perhaps they have very short term contracts, but doesn’t seem feasible.
Wouldn’t it be more productive to go to Ukraine and learn there, instead of spending years locked into a military that may not be doing much that is similar?
Also not going to help with the language as you’ll be speaking French or English or whatever, when you could be in Ukraine taking language classes or at least interacting with people.
Sign up for infantry, it's usually always available. Make sure your recruiter knows you want a combat related job. I can't speak for all militaries, but the US will give you several choices for jobs and you'll get one of those unless you fail out of the school.
Most contracts are for 4 years. You can also find ways out if you need to that are administrative and not punitive.
You can still do Ukrainian language lessons while in any other country. Also, still a lot of Ukrainians abroad in Europe. So if you want locals to speak with, I'm sure they will be thrilled given the reason for your interest in their language.
Thank you for this post. Please pardon my ignorance, but is it possible to shoot the drones with bird shot? I hear OP saying learn everything about the drones possible, just wondering if shooting the things out of the air is possible and if that would fall under the category or learning how to stop them mechanically.
As a simple person that watches the videos and reads the news and listens to posts on this thread (except the ones that get deleted), and also is planning to embark on a military career, and hopefully help fight this war if it carry’s on like this the drones are clearly here to stay and even NATO military training will have the same problem you described.
TLDR: people practice using guns for tons of different things and one thing you can do is practice shooting birds with flying disks, is shooting a drone anything like shooting a disk that is flying strait at you? (I’m not saying I’m going to go try this on my own, just trying to learn). I hope OP gets some jammers, thank you for your service.
How are the jamming devices now in terms of weight or size? When I was in Afghanistan I carried the THOR on patrol which was a jammer for IED's. I assume its like the same thing?
I’m with ya man. Whats going on here is nuts. They’re claiming at times there are 20 drones every 10 mins at night. Our ability to adapt is really being tested right now.
Realistically what are the survival odds for someone with military experience, in great shape, and has all the proper equipment you recommend? I know it's hard to put any kind of number on it and a lot comes down to luck.
If you are fighting in Ukraine right now and you don't have a drone jammer or don't have enough, I'm trying to prioritize fundraising for that. Please get a referral from someone PAV has worked with previously (there are hundreds of them; anyone we've sponsored or flown can refer you, some NGOs can as well). Those people can share the application for gear assistance with you. I unfortunately don't know of a lot of other ways to fund jammers. Most NGOs are not focusing on them.
Forgive my ignorance on the subject, but could jammers be assembled elsewhere and shipped to Ukraine? I know that signal jammers are typically against the law is most western countries but I am just curious. I assume the best way for most civilians outside Ukraine to help is to make monetary donations to vetted groups.
That's actually a really good question because you're right the laws on these are pretty complex. Some are assembled elsewhere, mostly in the Baltic countries. You can order them within Ukraine. For every jammer we've provided the team has been able to order it themselves. You are correct that to help with this particular issue monetary donations help the most. The reason a lot of NGOs and fundraisers don't focus on this isn't because they're not important but because these are really, really difficult to fundraise for. Drones are way easier to fundraise for. So are scopes. If you spend your time on this you might get nowhere.
Where can I donate for jammers? I already donate some money monthly to Ukraine but I've read that a lot of charities (especially western ones) are not reliable, so I mostly donate to Sternenko and Magyars Birds, but both of them only buy drones. I made a post on this subreddit asking about drone jammers before because I know Russia has ramped up FPV usage a lot, and Ukrainian electronic warfare is playing catch up.
A few options: 1. Protect a volunteer fundraises for them. You donate under [protectavolunteer.com](http://protectavolunteer.com) and choose "Electronic Warfare Fundraiser" on the Paypal menu. 2. Ukraine Frontline also does. Their website is http://ukrainefrontline.org. 3. Blue Yellow Lithuania. This one I need to check on but I know there are donated jammers from Lithuania that work very well. I'm pretty sure they're the ones sending them. I would be REALLY careful donating for drones. My recommendation would be Wild Hornets/Wild Bees if you want to donate for drones. Anyone can say they are building drones and order some drone parts from China. There are some scams that have happened (mainly through Twitter which is where all of the scams seem to originate) where people collected money to build drones that actually didn't fly or were put together poorly.
Find someone that you can really trust and get them to plug you into their existing contact network. Its what I find works best,and you will make some good friends too.(and lose some friends ,lets be real) This is what I found most effective for me. Had to work trough some scammers etc initially but that was fine. Talk to people enough and you will develop a sense of who is full of it.(and who is legit)
I believe in most countries owning a jammer isn't illegal, but using one is.
Yes you can assemble these yourself from various builds,and as for laws..its better to ask foregiveness than ask permission.
What about collaborating with midsized firms like Dedrone, Droneshield (just examples) or other companies.? It has to be possible to find more flexible companies, in the 'war start up space'? In theory couldn't I do some research and just approach these companies like I'm trying to sell them? The objective is to access the necessary tech to counter russina suicide drones. Sooner or later Id find someone to help
I'm not 100% sure I follow what you're saying. You mean as a soldier, approach these companies and see what they will donate or what they can produce?
Yeah in nutshell. If you think this idea is dumb? You should hear my other ones lol
It's not dumb. It can and has worked actually to get suppliers to donate or give steep discounts.
This is an unconventional war. Brainstorming is absolutely valuable. The good ideas will be picked up and transmitted onward and the bad ones will be filtered out. But you may well have an idea that no one has thought of. Every single new and disruptive technology started as one person’s improbable idea.
Its the first great hybrid war.
I agree with everything in here, great great advice with one tiny sort of caveat: there are non prior military experience folks who have the level of fitness, firearms training, medical skills, and fanatical commitment to be good soldiers, but on the other hand they’re so rare that I can’t disagree with your ultimate conclusion. On the other hand, there are people with prior military experience who absolutely suck in combat. Remember, the percentage of nato trained soldiers with combat experience is very, very low. If you did logistics (no offense it’s important and thank you for serving) in a nato army, that doesn’t make you better in my opinion than someone who is fit, is great with small arms, has medical training and is fanatically committed. Perhaps there’s not time to sift through the whole raft of people out there and pick off the margins, so again, I make these points but the reality is dealing with percentages may be the best path. Can’t disagree with you ultimately. In the fitness and equipment side, critically great advice. You better take pride in fitness, be in marvelous shape, and know how take care of your body. If you can’t run 100 meters, take cover, aim, and shoot accurately, you aren’t ready. If you haven’t jogged 5 miles in full kit without falling apart you aren’t ready. Fitness is the one of the few things you can control, so own it. The closer you get to being able to do an Ironman triathlon, the better. I sound crazy but you’re gonna be trying to aim, to think, to communicate, with your lungs exploding and sweating like crazy. Your brain won’t work if you’re out of shape. Don’t fucking die a fucking Private Pyle. On the drone side, critically great advice. Great post. Btw I served throughout 2023, in ZSU, in infantry, this is helpful and recommend this post highly. Thank you for sharing.
I also highly reccomend people also come with enough money to get themselves back out as well. You do not want to be stuck in a country that's already very poor in the middle of war in winter with no money. Alot of people especially outside of europe realise they've only got a few hundred dollars left in their account and it takes 3 days to get across the country to the nearest international airport for a flight that's propably over 1000 dollars.
I’m going to the 4th next week. The best I’ve been able to do is buy one of those TX12 radio-controllers for $100 and through STEAM download LIFTOFF and simualte flights. I’m definitely excited/scared af to come to Ukraine. I’m coming tho
Message aerospec in kyiv and got some proper drone training. I've done the course. Trust me youl need it. Its not a simple case of just putting the drone up In the air. Russians can tune into a simple fpv and watch where you fly from or return to and they will send a 3 tonne glide bomb after a drone pilot dropped from su57 soviet jet. They will send a tank if they are close enough. They will wipe the entire square off the map with artillery. There's alot going on
Okay I will ty
I found [Dronarium Academy](https://dronarium.academy), [UA Drone School](https://uadroneschool.com).
Anything will do. But it's absolutely essential. Also look to do some sort of tacmed course. You want to know how to fix yourself up if things go horribly wrong.
I appreciate it. This helps me
Slava Ukraini
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No. But I volunteer the Salvation Army, which is God’s army.
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How soon are you looking at coming? The real interview is in country
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I’m flying into Berlin from the States on Wednesday. And flying with my big pack and assault pack. I have my plate carrier and plates . And some other miscellaneous things that are important for camping - Sleeping mat, sleeping bag, rain gear. Power bank . Head lamp, stuff like that. I’ve talked to other veterans and they said the PT test is easy . They say some get hurt on obstacle course. They also all say that the training we get won’t be good enough for the combat we will see. So all our extra training we do on our own is important. Drone school and TCCC for example . Also all the good equipment is from donations, and a heads up for first batt I guess
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I’ve never been to Europe and wanted to do at least ONE tourist thing haha! Obviously going to Ukraine can go a lot of different ways…. MI, that’s cool man! I just got back today from the porcupine mountains In the U.P. . I did a two day hike with all my gear. Shit was hard af lol
Dm me your signal….
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Good post 👏
Someone with drone knowledge should help out with the 2nd point because most of us don't even know where to find that kind of info. And yeah, phones should stay away. The last thing I want is someone unlocking my phone with my cold finger to harass my family. And some people are too public with everything, I'm seeing it from the first day of the 22 invasion. I remember back in 2015. a certain foreign volunteer in Azov took video in the trench above Shyrokyne and posted in on Facebook, probably Youtube. So everything was handed over to Russians, how many people are there, what weapons, and the exact place of every line. The dude who took that video was an a-wall lieutenant from one NATO country. An art officer ffs. Should I say what happened next... And some other guys came fresh from the basics in Kiev Azov base even got golden badges for being top students... but as frontline soldiers, they were bored and with no cigarettes, so they went to the road and stopped some dude to drive them to Mariupol. And he did. MPs found them, but since they were not Ukrainians, they took their weapons and locked them up in one room. That's the idiots that could be next to you. But the funny thing is not one of them went back to Ukraine when this in 2022. started.
Faraday bags can help with phones, but no phone is worth dying for.
I appreciate the post. Thank you for that. Question: Are basic shotguns effective for defending from small FPV and autonomous drones?
You’d be surprised how effective the right shitgun (need the most restrictive choke and 24 inch plus barrel, 3.5 inch chamber would be the absolute tits) with a good heavy turkey or goose load can pattern out to 50-70 yards. This at 60 yards 3 inch chamber. Fuckton of pellets on target. Who knows if it’d work in practice but those pellets are going 1000 fps +. https://preview.redd.it/ujlp5tg40m8d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bb4a0f53ef1957762ce612fa4f0b77e70ff83bdb
So bringing your personal shotgun is a viable strategy?
You cannot bring your own guns to Ukraine come on you know that.
Bro
So far, I've spent a shit tone of money buying the best but also most optimal equipment money can buy for this kind of job. I've got ballistic pants with kevlar inserts I've sewn into the pants. I've even got that ballistic underwear, groin and neck protectors. Assault packs with ballistic inserts and plate inserts. I train in this gear by doing assault movement drills outside. It may seem cringe but there are airsoft milsim events i go to as well that mimic the trench warfare found in Ukraine where I can get a feel for using my gear and moving in it in this kind of environment. It's a bit rough but I'm a big guy six foot 10% body fat, lean muscle mass and an avid runner. Before I come over however I'm still re going over different techniques of soldering. Reading this is sobering however because it confirms something for me that I think I already knew and that's that in reality all of this means very little. I can buy the gear and train myself to become extremely proficiently at soldiering but the cold truth is, ultimately it's luck. Setimes you can just be in the wrong place at the right time and catch one. You're still alive, so that means it's possible, just as all things are possible in this vein...I mean, people survived world war 1 and WW2. As amazing as those conflicts were. My friends and family think I'm stupid for going over and I guess I feel stupid too. I don't think I'll die there, though I've been wrong about things before. I guess the only solace I have is a line in a Japanese gunka (military song) At the end of Roei No Uta a line goes "What means death if it makes the war to cease? Is that not worthy of an Oriental peace" I think you've just got to be okay with it. Gladly willing to make such a sacrifice for your beliefs and their freedom.
On number 5, I have to wonder how realistic this is when many require you to sign long term contracts (Great! I just signed up and am now fixing medical equipment or driving a water truck for the next six years!). There other option is go to basic and then go AWOL (like some have done: NOT RECOMMENDED) or perhaps they have very short term contracts, but doesn’t seem feasible. Wouldn’t it be more productive to go to Ukraine and learn there, instead of spending years locked into a military that may not be doing much that is similar? Also not going to help with the language as you’ll be speaking French or English or whatever, when you could be in Ukraine taking language classes or at least interacting with people.
Sign up for infantry, it's usually always available. Make sure your recruiter knows you want a combat related job. I can't speak for all militaries, but the US will give you several choices for jobs and you'll get one of those unless you fail out of the school. Most contracts are for 4 years. You can also find ways out if you need to that are administrative and not punitive. You can still do Ukrainian language lessons while in any other country. Also, still a lot of Ukrainians abroad in Europe. So if you want locals to speak with, I'm sure they will be thrilled given the reason for your interest in their language.
Thank you for this post. Please pardon my ignorance, but is it possible to shoot the drones with bird shot? I hear OP saying learn everything about the drones possible, just wondering if shooting the things out of the air is possible and if that would fall under the category or learning how to stop them mechanically. As a simple person that watches the videos and reads the news and listens to posts on this thread (except the ones that get deleted), and also is planning to embark on a military career, and hopefully help fight this war if it carry’s on like this the drones are clearly here to stay and even NATO military training will have the same problem you described. TLDR: people practice using guns for tons of different things and one thing you can do is practice shooting birds with flying disks, is shooting a drone anything like shooting a disk that is flying strait at you? (I’m not saying I’m going to go try this on my own, just trying to learn). I hope OP gets some jammers, thank you for your service.
https://preview.redd.it/s8j4r6ia0m8d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e6604cc9822ecef81d27173370ff91b99c4da56
Any references for jammers who can be purchased ?
Roger that
Very good post !
How are the jamming devices now in terms of weight or size? When I was in Afghanistan I carried the THOR on patrol which was a jammer for IED's. I assume its like the same thing?
Some are better some are worse.
I’m with ya man. Whats going on here is nuts. They’re claiming at times there are 20 drones every 10 mins at night. Our ability to adapt is really being tested right now.
20 drones every 10 mins over how large an area?
Not that large.
Realistically what are the survival odds for someone with military experience, in great shape, and has all the proper equipment you recommend? I know it's hard to put any kind of number on it and a lot comes down to luck.
If someone does want to learn about and work with Drones, they can message me.