A long read, but I’ll try to keep it understandable and non-technical.
Written for military personnel and volunteers. Others may not find this interesting.

CHECK YOUR EW SYSTEM BEFORE EVERY OPERATION!
Before every sortie, trip, evacuation—every day—verify your EW system. This could save your life! Each antenna should have its own LED indicator that must light up.

I’ve been flooded with messages and calls about this, and I keep repeating the same things. I’m writing this post so I can share a link instead of explaining it individually each time. I want you to understand what we are doing with EW systems, how we fund them, and what our production plans are.

1. Which models are we currently producing?
We’re producing two EW systems: one with 7 modules at 50W each and another with 9 modules at 50W each (see Photo 1 for an example). These systems cover almost all current critical frequencies. We are separately discussing specific frequencies (around 200–300 MHz, for instance) and their corresponding antennas with the EW and electronic reconnaissance units that have been established in every brigade. We regularly communicate and exchange experiences with these specialized units. Starting Monday, we’ll begin testing them. I’ll share photos from the field and the testing process.

For volunteers who plan to buy EW systems for their supported units, and for soldiers themselves:

• Purchasing a system with fewer than 5–7 modules is pointless now.

• Don’t buy outdated systems for huge sums off random online marketplaces! That’s just throwing money away! Consult with experts and professionals first. This is very important!

2. Funding
Photos 2–5: In these pictures, you see about $40,000 worth of components (1,650,000 UAH)—just the latest shipment from China. Several small boxes total $40,000. These include modules, antennas, and small power components. We buy all other parts (cases, cooling systems, cables, etc.) in Ukraine.

From this shipment alone, we’ll produce about 13 modern and reliable EW systems that genuinely work and save the lives of our Defenders. Why “about”? Because there’s always a margin of error due to defective parts, and we constantly have to pull modules and spare parts for repairs of existing EW units that are sent to us from the frontline.

Where does the money come from?
Throughout the war, we have never taken a single cent of government or budget funds for any of our activities—whether for AFU vehicles, EW systems, Starlinks, or “Palianytsia” (our Aid & Logistics Center), and so on.

Our funding sources:

• Philanthropists in our city

• Private businesses

• My friends

• Your donations

• The troops themselves, sometimes

• And a significant amount from my personal funds

That’s it.

3. Production
To launch full-scale production and repair operations, we’d need about $200,000–300,000. This is not a large sum for a government, but we simply don’t have it. We need this to purchase EW parts, create a supply of spare parts, modules, etc. “On-hand” so we can produce new systems and carry out repairs promptly when units send back their damaged EW systems from the front line.

We have engineers, facilities, tools, etc., all set up. Everything is secure and confidential, as it should be for safety reasons. But we don’t have the money for large-scale production, so we buy parts in small batches.

I’ve met with representatives of the Ministry of Defense three times. In short: papers, tests, photos, forms, and more forms. More than a year of talks “about nothing.” Time wasted. This is not our profile—we’re mostly dealing with officials who don’t understand what we’re talking about, let alone the technical details. State funding won’t be coming. They’re only interested in one thing, and you can guess what that is.

4. Pricing
We are not a commercial enterprise! We don’t earn money or sell anything. All our work, time, nerves, and expertise are free and directed solely at supporting the AFU.

Yes, we’re “crazy” like that.

So, I’ll just give approximate prices for the parts that make up a PROPER EW system, not counting labor, profit, or incidental expenses—just the raw parts.

• A 5-module (50W each) EW system: 70,000–90,000 UAH

• A 7-module (50W each) EW system: 120,000–150,000 UAH

• A 9-module (50W each) EW system: 170,000–190,000 UAH

This is very approximate because there are many nuances, starting with the manufacturer of the modules and ending with the materials for the housing. It’s impossible to detail everything here.

These prices are just to give military personnel and volunteers a ballpark figure of what they’re buying and how much it should roughly cost.

5. Demand vs. Production
We cannot meet all the EW requests we receive—no way! We’re about to make 13 systems, but we have orders for more than 100. It breaks my heart that we can’t fulfill them all. This is about people’s lives, the lives of our Warriors. Neither physically nor financially can we handle this volume right now, though we’re doing everything in our power.

I’ll place another order for parts from China. I’m taking steps to expand production and our capacity to help. I’m looking for more resources—anything to save lives. It’s very tough.

6. EW Repairs
We often receive EW units from the state. In most cases, it’s a nightmare (Photo 5 shows what NOT to do!). They arrive DOA—dead on arrival. Instead of repairs, we essentially have to rebuild them, replacing modules, cooling, power supply, antennas, etc. A complete overhaul!

There are countless such examples. Money is wasted on EW units like the one in Photo 6, which is unacceptable.

I wanted to write more, but this is already long, and I know many won’t read or understand what I’m saying. Still, I hope this helps someone.

All strength, money, knowledge, and effort must be directed to the AFU. That’s what we’re trying to do.

You do the same. Donate to “your” volunteers, foundations, directly to soldiers, or to people you trust! Do something, anything, for our Defenders!

Glory to the AFU! Glory to Ukraine!