Ukraine estimates that over half of all Russian casualties are due to small, cheap FPV drones that are just modified consumer items. Last year, Russian radio jammers often brought them down, to the point that Ukraine was losing upwards of 10,000 a month. Since then, the technology has advanced and their jammers don't work anymore. And as always it's their soldiers on the frontlines that are paying a heavy price.
Unable to bring them down and almost impossible to run away from, Russian soldiers are now asking for shotguns loaded with buckshot. Although common for U.S. forces, shotguns are exceedingly rare for Russians. So they're now resorting to begging family members to send them to the frontline. “Please help us with pump-action shotguns. Any shit will do.”
Source: Forbes
The Russian military’s anti-drone radio jammers don’t work very well. Its air-defense systems are spread thin defending against Ukrainian drones targeting bases, factories and oil refineries hundreds of miles behind the front line.
So what’s a Russian infantryman to do to protect himself from the roughly 100,000 explosive first-person-view drones Ukrainian operators fling at Russian positions every month?
A shotgun firing buckshot is a decent defensive weapon. After all, a two-pound FPV drone is around the size and speed of a bird. A fast shooter could hunt an FPV drone like a duck.
The Russian armed forces issue a few shotguns for drone-defense duty—but not nearly enough to protect the whole 400,000-strong force in Ukraine. So at least one soldier has asked civilians to buy a shotgun for him—and mail it to the front line.
“Please help us with pump-action shotguns,” the shell-shocked Russian soldier said in a video message to his supporters back home. “Any shit will do.”
No doubt the Russians will be even less pleased when these bad boys arrive from America. Drones outfitted with machine guns and javelin missiles.
As for Russian officers, let's just say they're not terribly sympathetic to their plight.
