Ukrainian App Allows Civilians to Help in Shooting down Drones, Missiles

The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (HUR MO) has encouraged Ukrainians to download the “ePPO” mobile application to help the military’s air defense units track down Russian drones and missiles.

ePPO is currently available only for Android smartphones. Although released on Google Play Store on October 10, the app has been downloaded by more than 100,000 people.

A version for iOS is expected to be released in a few weeks.

The app allows citizens to inform Ukraine’s forces about the flight of cruise missiles, kamikaze drones or enemy aircraft.

Users should go through authorization using Diia after downloading the app, and click Test to make sure that everything works and be ready to notify anti-aircraft fighters about the perceived threat.

After detecting a hostile air target, the user is required to select the type (fighter, missile, drone, etc) of the target, point smartphone in the direction of the target and press the big red button. Air defense specialists will see a mark on the map, it will complement the radar information and the threat will be shot down.