How to avoid being detected by Helicopters

Actually the FLIR pod has a range of 5 miles. They wouldn't waste an anti-tank Hellfire on you if they still had 20mm rounds or unguided rockets. In that case they would close in on you at about a mile.

I did chuckle at the CO2 fire extinguisher idea. You would suffocate yourself before the helo had a chance to get at you.

reply to post by anonymouse11

It . Would . Not . Work

What part of that don't you understand? From the distance a helicopter can detect and engage you, your chances of pointing the mic in the right direction are about the same as just shooting a 50 caliber machine gun randomly into the air and managing to bring it down.

Literally. The. Same. Odds.

reply to post by sanchoearlyjones


It's not that there is some sort of FLIR tech built into BDUs *by the way we use ACUs now *Army Combat Uniform*. It's that in addition to the infrared markers *little squares of reflective material much like the "black plastic" reflective belts*, we wear American Flags in a subdued pattern of the same material, and if you're operating in a night environment where friendlies are using IR detection equipment then you will have what we call a flasher.

Seeing as that's part of an actual mission execution measure, you'll have to go somewhere else to find out what is entailed with those, but rest assured if it comes to trying to identify US military versus US civilian, there is almost no doubt that it's 100% doable... as long as civvies stay in civvies, and military stay in uniform.

You would be surprised how far a single group of soldiers will go beyond orders (we're all human after all) to find one person. As a soldier we're conditioned to abhor failure, so being given an objective and then failing in that task isn't just like not getting a Wii on launch day, it's more along the lines of being pregnant and you're child being still-born.

As far as "regular patrols" the only one's you should ever worry about are patrols consisting of soldiers in COMBAT ARMS MOS's with a unit patch on their RIGHT shoulder... especially if they're under 35. That means more than likely they're veterans of combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, or both, and being one myself, I know that while doing "routine patrols" in country we did some VERY off the wall and out of the box thinking in order to find people we were looking for and to catch criminals *not terrorists, criminals, because that's what they are* in the act, or red-handed so to speak.

But yes, I agree, you should be more worried about the "regular patrols" than any overhead video surveilance.

But if you are worried about FLIR or any other form of heat detections, remember this, that unlike night vision equipment, heat detection is broken absolutely by a single layer of ANYTHING.... plastic, saran wrap between you and the detector held away from the body works EXCELLENT because it transfers heat extremely quickly, thus equalizing to the ambient temperature, and it provides 100% protection between you and a detector.
Aluminum foil also works for covering up entrances to tents/caves/lean-tos....

Just some information from a retired Combat Engineer.

Originally posted by Silver Shadow
And no.
Glass or plexiglass will not hide you.
What you need is something that reflects heat and light, like a space blanket, with the foil inwards as others have already suggested.

Putting a sheet of glass between yourself and the sun, does not make the sun become invisible, does it ?
Likewise, if you are (relatively) hot and glowing, it will not hide you in the slightest from IR sensitive equipment.

Plexiglass is one of the best blockers of Infra Red light which is how thermal imaging works so yes it will hide you. There is a massive difference between visible light, infra red light and ultra violet light . You want something that blocks the correct spectrum and while glass is designed to let visible light through it does a good job of blocking the others.

While there are specialist materials for that plexiglass would be the cheapest option and quite effective.
Blocking heat in any way helps of course but if you stop the thermal imaging even getting to you that's better.

[edit on 14-8-2009 by Teknikal]

@voxel try doing that while running after hitting a govt convoy, looks ok-ish on paper , barely. In real life you will be dead before you get the calculator out.

Originally posted by mattifikation
reply to post by anonymouse11

 

It . Would . Not . Work

What part of that don't you understand? From the distance a helicopter can detect and engage you, your chances of pointing the mic in the right direction are about the same as just shooting a 50 caliber machine gun randomly into the air and managing to bring it down.

Literally. The. Same. Odds.

One point to make clear , we are not talking about pinpointing the position of a heli, just enough noise to be aware there is a heli in the area.

1. while sweeping we just need to hear a buzz in the otherwise silent sky, nothing spectacular or pin point accuracy, you dont even have to locate the exact source, just have to be aware there is a heli somewhere, then you hide and wait.

2. Unless I am wrong, the sound waves produced by the heli spread, so its sound signature would not be limited to its actual size but would be at the very least substantially larger.

AGAIN we dont want to locate the heli, just be aware of its presence.

To toss my advice in here, bury yourself, get behind something solid and large, hide under something hot or get into something cool, like water, then just keep your nose above the water. As is already posted, once you see them, you have lost, now it becomes a game of cat and mouse. Perhaps the cat didnt notice you yet, but he will when you start moving.

Originally posted by anonymouse11
@voxel try doing that while running after hitting a govt convoy, looks ok-ish on paper , barely. In real life you will be dead before you get the calculator out.

You seriously have this warped sense of reality. In your hypothetical scenario, you hit a government (or military) convoy alone with no outside support? You don't have any radios, dead drops, safe houses, stashes or people providing operational and situational intelligence?

My idea just requires the existence of "somebody else" with a calculator and some equipment helping you getting away. The real military depends on people with a bigger view of the theatre of operations to guide individual units through and around enemy positions. So should survivalists.

What I proposed would take a little bit of planning and cooperation among a small group of people. Why is that so far fetched? The small devices themselves could be built by scavenging modern trash. The devices communication using 1940s radio technology and are autonomous. After scattering them around a geographic locale, you would have a sort of "intelligence" perimeter of a few miles.

What you are really asking then is, "How do I detect and evade a million-man-strong machine that is using the latest technology. Oh, I am alone and have no modern technology to assist me yet my superhuman abilities have let me hit a mobile column, loot, and survive."

Survival does not mean alone. If you think "survival" = "alone" then you are already dead.

Jon

Study how the taliban does it in afganisthan.
I believe they use sheep blankets or something like that

If you search onm liveleak.com you can find quite a lot of video's of them sneaking up to a US base using these tactics.
They have been avoiding helicopters for a couple of decades now.

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Survival probably means leaving the military the crap alone to begin with.

One could argue that if helicopters are looking for you, you're already dead.

replying to your original question your most effective and feasible method of detection is your ears. I've lived in VA my whole life, and choppers have been a constant wherever I have lived. By norfolk and va beach the full range of military rotor winged aircraft are constantly flying from one place to another or practicing maneuvers. In Richmond, my home, it's generally USMC AH1zulus and uh-60's (commonly called blackhawks...though there are many variations on the basic bird). If you live in a mountainous region it is a double-edged sword. When in the blue ridge are you can sometimes hear a choppers faint hum from miles away, quite literally as it approaches. I also experienced choppers appearing seemingly out of nowhere when flying below the tops in valleys not directly connected to mine or separated by a mountain or hill. In flat terrain I'm sure you could hear in incoming chopper from about the 2-3 mile range given if the U.S. ever sank to that point alot of background noise would not be present. If its dead silent they'll give themselves away, if its not then I guess you're gonna have to keep your eyes open.

- I Never Even Thought About This O_e Im A Tad Bit Worried Now. XD

It just occurred to me that maybe you should worry less about attack helicopters and worry more about Predator drones. They are cheaper to build, fly, and operate and are specifically designed to hover overhead endlessly looking for you.

Unless you have a tank, you probably don't have to worry about being hunted down by an Apache anytime soon. If you think hiding in the middle of nowhere using the same old standard camouflage techniques will help you, there's a few dozen dead terrorists in Pakistan who beg to differ.