r/tacticalgear • u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes • Jun 11 '25
Weapons/Tactics How to Survive Drones
How to Survive Drones
A brief introduction into tactics that you should implement to be more survivable in the current warfare environment.
These are lessons learned from speaking to people who have been targeted by drones, by people who have operated drones, and by watching thousands upon thousands of videos of drones being used to target people/vehicles. This work is not entirely my own.
French Officer Louis Saillans had a good write up regarding lessons learned, and the statistics provided on some of the slides are statistics as a result of Louis's work compiling and analyzing over 5000 videos of soldiers trying to escape FPV drones (from both sides).
Videos were pulled from Telegram, Reddit, and other sources. There are plenty of more videos available, so many that it is difficult to compile them all. This does not factor in the psychological toll of compiling and watching all of the footage, either.
Hopefully you learn something from this. Feel free to add experience and further recommendations in the comments below. War is hell, and God bless the dead.
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u/bldswtntrs Jun 11 '25
This is great info, but I feel like it won't gain much traction on a fashion sub. I commend you for attempting to elevate the basement trolls though.
It's interesting to me just how much these tactics are just a reinforcement of existing infantry tactics with things like making sure to use good concealment and dispersion. It almost makes me feel like drones can be thought of as an evolution of indirect fire.
The comparison has been made a million times but the tech evolutions of modern warfare are very similar to the advances of the late 19th & early 20th century, especially in regards to WWI and the advent of machine guns, barbed wire, & saturation artillery. Then as now, tech hasn't made infantry irrelevant, but it forces infantry into one of two paths where infantry must be very well trained, motivated, and innovative in their tactics (like with German stormtroopers), or commanders/political leadership must be willing to endure very high casualties.
I feel like eventually there will be some tech advances that help to counter drone use, but until then there is going to be a brutal learning curve for foot soldiers in modern warfare.
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it. You touch on important points. I think it’s pretty important to learn from what we can see to avoid learning the harsh realities ourselves quite as hard as it otherwise would be.
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u/YouSAW556 Jun 12 '25
Very good write up.
One take away I like especially to point out is simply terrain and environment in regards to telemetry in most group 1, FPV style drones. Ukraine is prime drone country in most areas because the flat and barren agricultural terrain permits almost unobstructed LOS between the GCS (ground control station) and target. Albeit an airborne repeater or high elevation transmitter could mitigate it, other geographic locations could severely hinder effective drone range simply from hills, treelines, and buildings blocking the RX/TX signal. This is not to say that poor terrain completely negates the threat, but rather help bring that percentage of probable detection or hit lower, even if marginally. IMO the best way to learn how to counter them is to own one as then you can understand what the capabilities and and range limitations are first hand based on your environment.
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
Absolutely, this is a very important point. Which, we are seeing repeater systems being utilized by larger drones in the sky, obviously repeating signal for FPV/bomber style drones to get better range and better connection, but as jamming has become more prevalent we are now again seeing less of this. It is very interesting to see the back and forth and how tactics oftentimes change overnight because of circumstances on the ground. Adapting quickly is the name of the game in war.
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u/evo1d0er Jun 13 '25
I believe terrain and comms will be irrelevant in the near future. With ai piloting they will be orders of magnitude better than humans and won’t need to broadcast at all because the programming will be onboard.
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u/FauxyOne Jun 12 '25
Point #8, you forgot socks. Nobody brings enough good socks.
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
Think you have enough merino wool socks? WRONG. Get another pair.
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u/FauxyOne Jun 12 '25
I tell my new guys to remove half of the contents of their backpacks and fill back up with merino wool socks and long underwear.
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Jun 12 '25
Side tip for op, use black text on white bg for better readability, instead of white text on black bg. Also same logic goes for that red box too, use red text on white or black bg. Doing this improves Readability, which leads to your post getting more engagement, which leads to wide spread of this post to people who really need it, which again ultimately leads to the betterment of mankind.
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
Thanks for the constructive advice friend, I appreciate it!
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Jun 12 '25
Thank you for not taking it the wrong way.
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
It’s sound advice, I’ll always take that when I can get it! Thanks again lol
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u/gunsforevery1 Jun 11 '25
Point 6.
I’ve been saying it over and over and over. IOTV gen 1-2 is coming back for the next conflict.
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u/Solid-Safety-4844 Jun 12 '25
Gen 3 was peak protection and comfortability. And it’s in Multicam and not OCP.
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u/BigRedRobotNinja Jun 12 '25
What about Gen 4? I'm still trying to understand the differences between generations.
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u/Solid-Safety-4844 Jun 12 '25
Gen 1 and 2 are really similar tbh. But Gen 2 was the first to be in Multicam. Gen 3 removed the stretchy under cummerbund that the Gen 1 and 2 had. It had clips on the shoulders and the cummerbund that could be detached way easier than the previous 2. It was also only made in Multicam. Gen 4 cut out most of the soft armor and resembles a PC while retaining the upgrades of the Gen 4. And it was made in only OCP. Honestly, Gen 3 and Gen 4 is really good. But for soft armor protection, I’d go with the Gen 3. Just make sure you get it in a size smaller than what you usually run. I’m a small person and I had RFI give me an extra small and it fit like a PC. Everyone in my unit was jealous asf. Granted, everyone else had Gen 4s on deployment and the smallest size at the time was a medium.
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u/Jo3K3rr Jun 11 '25
What if all you have is open fields? I mean literally, where I live you have to drive a good hour or more to get into the forest.
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 11 '25
Take the tree-lines that separate fields. And if its literally just fields, take vehicles across as fast as you can lol
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u/Drtysouth205 Jun 11 '25
Where did you get the 67% survival rate number?
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 11 '25
From Louis’s analyzing of more than 5000 videos, but as stated the percentage is likely skewed negatively some as explained above
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u/AmazingMojo2567 Jun 12 '25
So, like, what's your background regarding this? Why should I trust the info you are putting out?
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
I’m just a prepared citizen who is interested in the advancements of drones as someone who is seeing drones utilized more and more domestically and who believes we are not generally shifting our tactics enough to prepare for/counter them (we being the US military). However, we are seeing progress in the right direction.
As for why should you trust me, that depends. I encourage you to do your own research, as I always encourage people to do. But I will say, I have spoken with numerous drone operators (dropper drones and FPV’s) as well as various soldiers who have survived multiple drone attacks about their experiences. What they did, what they observed with others, what worked and what didn’t. Frankly, the best advice was from the drone operators, since it is so quick and easy to deploy drones and get kills/induce casualties with them. One person can easily get several kills in a day in the right area. Finally, it is based off of my own analyzation (I know this doesn’t mean much) and the analyzation of more than 5000 different videos from Louis as mentioned above (French Officer). The statistics are from him but are likely negatively skewed some, and a few of my points I borrowed from him (and or expanded upon).
Regardless, I sent this information to drone operators and people who have experienced being blown up by drones, in some cases a couple times. Every single one of them agreed this was generally sound advice for avoiding drones. @Nova_ua_2 on Instagram was one in particular who I talked to about this. He has experience on both ends of the drone, which makes his perspective pretty good and insightful.
Please let me know if you have any more specific questions, I’d be happy to help.
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u/chuckbuckett Jun 12 '25
Shotguns are definitely a good option for a last resort but you gotta be a good shot. Should be way easier than bird hunting though unless they have high speed drones going Mach duck
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
true, which to be fair, most fpv drones are going quite a bit quicker and are quite a bit more maneuverable than a duck. and their movement is quite unnatural, which does not help in trying to shoot them down.
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u/chuckbuckett Jun 12 '25
How fast are FPV drones going? I feel like if they have an explosive payload they’re going to be slower than normal.
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u/LMM-GT02 Jun 12 '25
Boston Dynamics mini C-RAM inbound.
Ain’t nobody ready for the white-phosphorus drone swarm.
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u/spiceweasle93 Jun 13 '25
Drones oftentimes "play" woth people out in the open
Operators make me fucking sick.
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 13 '25
Yep, pure evil. But does also have the effect of wearing the soldier down and making him more likely to give up or to be incapable of dodging the drone, so there is that aspect as well. Regardless, shit sucks.
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u/Unlikely-Ad8173 Jun 13 '25
Could somebody tell me how and what to pack for 3 days without the ruck? In most videos I found they showing the little or even no food in their backpacks
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u/Fjell-Jeger Jun 13 '25
This is mission-specific, so no general answer.
It's mostly impossible to rest away from secured positions (entrechnments, fortified buildings, safe houses in the rear areas...), so most soldiers don't venture out for more then a day at a time, this requires very little in provisions. If they advance and secure another position, they are often supplied by tactical vehicles once the area is cleared.
To survive, individual kit (body armor, helmet, boots, rifle, possibly coms and a tarp for cover), munitions (~6-8 mags), hand grenades, (~4), IFAK, water (possibly purification tablets or a filtration system, but water is often contaminated at the frontlines), provisions for a day (cans, high-energy foods like chocolate, protein bars).
All this is usually carried on the body, in pouches that are attached to the plate carrier. Small patrol packs with mission specific gear (jamming system, medkit, drones) are frequently carried.
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u/Automatic-Fondant940 Jun 12 '25
Definitely a good introduction into drone survival. I’d definitely recommend adding some common drone tactics to look out for. As well as a dedicated person to keep an eye out for eye threats
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
Absolutely, this was just a brief and basic introduction to core principles. I’ll be going more in depth in some future posts on different kinds of drones, strengths/weaknesses, common tactics used by drone operators, and more tactics on how to stay alive/deal with the threats.
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u/apscep Jun 12 '25
If you need to cross the field to reach an enemy position, just don't, it's 92% to be hit by a drone! Wait till trees are grow or something...
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
Lol, moving fast is pretty much your only option if you really need to cross, not ideal as seen by drone footage😂
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u/iron-while-wearing Jun 12 '25
Concealment is still highly relevant. The drone operator must see you to target you. Most mass produced FPVs don't have thermal sensors, and even drones with thermal can't see through objects. Principles of concealment and camouflage still apply, even if it's only in making sure some other individual gets targeted before you.
Fighting alone/extremely dispersed is totally antithetical to how US forces are accustomed to doing business. I wonder if that will be forced to change.
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u/Fjell-Jeger Jun 13 '25
Various "anti-drone ponchos" and "cloaks of invisibility" have been developed (this is issued to efp-NATO forces in Lithuania), indidual user experiences may vary, one size fits most.
Both Ukrainian and Russian companies have developed thermal cameras for ~250€ which are cheap enough to fit on FPV drones, so the drone threats persist at night times as well.
Being caught out in the open for longer times in a drone saturated environment is usually a death sentence, the best solution for risk mitigation is to limit operational time outside of fortified entrenchments.
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u/Pr1zzm Jun 12 '25
As a civvie I hope to God that I'll never need to utilize this knowledge, but I'm thankful to have it regardless.
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u/Canop Jun 12 '25
The thing about not freezing: is it supported by more evidence than the videos we see ?
No video is published when the drone operator didn't spot the soldier so it's hard to tell whether freezing is really so bad as a survival tactic when a drone is known to be near (and the soldier is at least a little concealed).
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
True, and a valid question. Like I mentioned in the post, the stats are likely negatively skewed some across the board since there is the bias that we are shown videos mostly of successful strikes than unsuccessful ones and it is impossible to have entirely accurate statistics about it.
That being said, I’m more speaking to the phenomenon we are seeing on both sides where soldiers will realize there is an FPV drone flying above them and they will freeze in their tracks and sometimes even close their eyes. The drones will oftentimes literally fly circles around them a few times to show this off, before they strike them, oftentimes a direct hit, which is almost never survivable.
A near hit is much more survivable than a direct hit, especially when wearing armor. While I understand it is still far from pleasant and still sometimes means bleeding out alone in a field, overall, not freezing when you’re caught in the open the the drone is doing circles around you is conducive to a higher survival rate. Not a ton better, but better.
Now if you’re already still and you’re prone or around cover/concealment and a drone flies by, I wouldn’t necessarily take off running. However, if it comes back near you and starts doing circles around your position specifically, at that point it is much more likely than not that it sees you.
There are of course many variables at play, this is just the sense I get while watching all of the videos and speaking with folks who’ve been there on both sides of the drones.
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u/Swift_Legion Jun 12 '25
Tbh most of these are just common sense... Don't cross an LDA... No kidding. 🤯
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
Lol, true, but it also depends on area. Sometimes you may be forced to, or you’re funneled into very specific areas.
Thats why we now see a lot of Russian motor bike squads going in groups of 3-4 along thin tree-lines along fields. Its easy to point and laugh from our perspective, and sometimes they get wiped out entirely and other times they make advancements a couple km at a time doing this, but I see a lot of people in the west pointing and laughing as if anything else would be effective.
Just my observations. Many of the people pointing out that this is obvious stuff simultaneously call current adopted Russian tactics stupid, when in reality they have much more experience with this stuff than we do right now. Trying to move the needle the other way while still keeping things as similar as possible to how we do them now lol
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u/Fjell-Jeger Jun 12 '25
The Russian approach is "high risk - high reward" (~swiftly move multiple small unsupported groups into the grey zone in the hopes that one of them can somehow succeed to seize and hold an abandoned building or entrenchment until reinforcements arrive).
A requirement for this is to accept massive casualties and the full annihilation of entire units for marginal tactical gains, for most militaries from countries with intact moral values this wouldn't be acceptable.
IMO a viable solution to counter drone threats and enable mechanized ground operations is a multi-layered air defense screen as well as aviation, artillery and ECM/ELINT support (basically cold-war era combined arms operations).
Another is embedding counter-drone capacities in infantry units at the fireteam level (a semi-automatic shotgun with dedicated munitions and optronics would be a "stop-gap" measure build from available components).
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u/GunnyClaus Jun 13 '25
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u/CTSwampyankee Jun 13 '25
classic.
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u/GunnyClaus Jun 13 '25
Foreshadowing or Prediction?!
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u/CTSwampyankee Jun 14 '25
The movie had some truths. Autonomous drones identified enemy targets and engaged on their own. You needed the wrist band IFF to avoid attack. That’s partially where we’re headed.
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u/evo1d0er Jun 13 '25
The next to last point in 10 is especially important. A2RL this year was a huge milestone. We are probably only months away from Black Mirror level personalized attack drone.
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u/jimredbeard Jun 13 '25
This is so dystopian. I wouldn't want anyone to go into the military going forward. What's the point, except to recreate some type of Black Mirror Battle scenario. Wars will be fought with robotics / AI and technology going forward.
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 15 '25
Eh, war will always need men. Those are the ones who are wanting to go to war, anyways. Will inevitably need men to hold ground. Otherwise, whats the point?
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u/cowboy_hmo Jun 12 '25
Have you been in combat?
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
Nope, I am just a prepared citizen. This is from talking to a lot of people who have been in combat on both sides (both operators and soldiers targeted by drones), as well as my own and an officer’s analyzation of many many hours of footage on what common/basic factors are increasing survival.
I have delved a bit into the world of drones on my own as well, so I do have experience using drones and attempting to evade them as well (just without the consequences being death or severe injury).
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u/CTSwampyankee Jun 13 '25
6’ small Kevlar thread net round for last ditch.
40mm or rifle grenade slip on.
darpa money
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u/762x39innawoods Jun 12 '25
The best training you can do is go duck hunting. Shooting at a duck going 40mphs is about the same as a drone I'd imagine.
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u/BasedPinoy Jun 12 '25
Unless the ducks are going 100mph and going in zigzags, no absolutely not
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u/762x39innawoods Jun 12 '25
Not every pilot is a top gun
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u/BasedPinoy Jun 12 '25
And not every shooter is a marksman. But I’ll tell you this, every single person that I’ve taught how to fly drones the first thing they try to do is zip around and dodge.
I don’t even have to tell them to do it, it’s just that much fun to do it
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25 edited Jun 12 '25
I’m sure it would probably help a decent bit but still not quite the same lol, drones are quite a bit quicker and more maneuverable.
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u/Paul_reislaufer Jun 12 '25
This is basically just restating already known "rules" of warfare. I respect effort though.
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
I respectfully disagree. Spacing applies, but a lot of the rest of it is pretty much counter to current US doctrine. The only countries doing this stuff is Ukraine/Russia. The Marines and Army differ slightly in how they use squads, but it isn’t the same. Fireteams are utilized quite a bit differently here. In current doctrine, it would be heavily frowned upon to do what Ukraine and Russia are doing, and they’ve been heavily criticized by many in the west for their tactics, but its how they’re essentially forced to fight.
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u/Paul_reislaufer Jun 12 '25
The fireteam thing is the only slide besides shotguns that isn't already established in western doctrine. And even keeping units dispersed until you need them for an attack is firmly in doctrine, just not at that level. You can't honestly act like using cover/concealment and smoke to obscure movement is a new finding.
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u/xdJapoppin AKM and M81 Cryes Jun 12 '25
It isn’t new, but using smokes to obscure the view of drones isn’t something I see talked about much, either. It’s just expanding on the data point and bringing it to attention. I’m not trying to act like this stuff is really all that revolutionary, I’m trying to make it very simple and easy to understand. You can get very down into the weeds of drone tactics if you want. A lot of this stuff is “same same but different”. It’s just basic recommendations, nothing more.
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u/joeg26reddit Jun 11 '25
“How to survive drones “
Stay hidden
Use your own drones