OPEN LETTER: Himera, the Kyiv startup keeping soldiers connected under jammers

Introduction: The world's most jammed battlefield demands a Ukrainian answer

When Russian electronic warfare tries to silence the voices

On the Ukrainian front, radio silence can cost lives. The Russians have turned electronic warfare into a systematic weapon — omnidirectional jammers, mass interceptions, saturation of the electromagnetic spectrum across dozens of kilometers. Every signal is a potential target. Every intercepted communication can betray a position, a unit, an attack plan. Faced with this brutal reality, a young company from Kyiv decided not to yield the ground.

Himera — founded in the Ukrainian capital — has developed lightweight mesh radios that deliver on their promise where others fail: in dense forests, in urban terrain, in the most forward positions on the front. Co-founder Misha Rudominski is no laboratory theorist. He built his devices in direct dialogue with the units using them, absorbing field feedback and integrating every lesson of war into new product generations.

An architecture designed to survive the electromagnetic storm

The basic principle of the mesh network is elegantly formidable: each device — whether the portable radio G1 Pro, the autonomous repeater B1, or the IP repeater R1 — is simultaneously a node and an extension of the network. If a node is jammed, disabled, or destroyed, the network automatically reconfigures around it. There is no single point of failure. This is anti-fragility applied to war.

The G1 Pro weighs only 300 grams — against roughly one kilogram for competing radios. The 1st Separate Brigade achieved 45 kilometers of clear signal through dense forested terrain with only four G1 Pro devices. That figure deserves repeating: four devices, 45 kilometers, dense forest. In any Western military telecommunications manual, that result would be considered exceptional.

Ukrainian special forces trust Himera

A client roster that speaks to operational trust

This is not a startup selling hope to enthusiastic civilians. Himera's clients are the Ukrainian Special Forces, the National Guard, the Ground Forces, the Territorial Defense, and the SBU — Ukraine's Security Service. These are organizations whose survival depends on the reliability of the equipment they use. Their trust is the best certification there is.

Himera systems integrate with Ukrainian command platforms such as Combat Vision, Kropyva, and Delta, as well as with ATAK, the system used by NATO member countries. Compatibility with SitaWare from the Danish company Systematic Inc. is currently under development. Himera is not playing in the local garden — it is already opening up to Alliance standards.

Repeaters dropped from drones into enemy positions

One of the system's boldest applications is using B1 repeaters dropped from drones into advanced enemy positions. The autonomous unit lands in the Russian position, powers on, and creates a communication node deep inside the adversary's layout. This is operational intelligence becoming tactical intelligence in real time. The network deploys where soldiers cannot yet go.

The R1 repeater goes further still: it connects the mesh network to the Internet, including satellite terminals like Starlink. When WiFi, LTE, and satellite are all unavailable — which is common in zones of intense combat — Himera devices link tablets, laptops, and phones to one another without any central infrastructure. The network becomes its own infrastructure.

Encryption: between military standard and a Canadian layer

AES-256 as a floor, not a ceiling

Standard AES-256-bit encryption is the minimum acceptable military threshold in most Western doctrines. Himera integrates it as standard in all its devices. But the company went one step further by collaborating with Quantropi, a Canadian firm specializing in post-quantum cryptography. An additional encryption layer can be applied on top of the basic protection for the most sensitive communications.

In an environment where Russia is investing massively in interception and decryption capabilities, this dual layer is not a marketing gimmick. It is a serious answer to a serious threat. Communication security is the difference between a successful operation and a fatal ambush.

Rudominski's philosophy of resilience

"Everything can be jammed, everything can be detected, everything can be intercepted," declared co-founder Misha Rudominski. "It is not about making it impossible. It is about making it very difficult, very complicated, and very costly." This philosophy is at the heart of the Himera approach: not promising invincibility, but raising the cost and complexity of every Russian interception attempt to the point where it becomes untenable at scale.

This technical humility is precisely what makes the company credible. It does not sell miracles. It sells engineering rigor applied to survival. And on a battlefield where Ukraine faces a far larger military power, that is exactly the right approach.

Three weeks to deliver: when Ukraine beats Western timelines

A delivery timeline that astonishes European and American buyers

Himera can deliver a large order in three weeks. When the company announced that timeline to foreign clients, they had expected three to six months. That astonishment alone captures the operational advantage that war has forced Ukrainian industry to develop. Existential urgency is the best industrial accelerator there is.

This responsiveness does not compromise quality. The company has always delivered its orders on time since its founding. Military contracts — with the Special Forces, the SBU, the National Guard — are living proof that reliability has not been sacrificed on the altar of speed. Himera proves that speed and rigor are not incompatible.

Growing interest from international buyers

Last year, the American firm Reticulate Micro announced that the G1 Pro was available to U.S. armed forces. A defense ministry from an EU member state — whose identity has not been disclosed — also appears among the foreign clients. International demand is growing, driven by buyers seeking combat-proven systems, not tradeshow prototypes.

This is not marketing. It is the reality of what "combat-proven" means in the Ukrainian context: devices that have functioned under intense Russian jamming, in flooded trenches, at extreme temperatures, with batteries recharged under precarious conditions. The Ukrainian battlefield is the world's most demanding qualification laboratory.

The Russian electronic warfare ecosystem that Himera defies

Electromagnetic saturation as a combat doctrine

Russia has deployed in Ukraine the largest concentration of electronic warfare systems observed since the Second World War. Systems such as the Krasukha, the Murmansk-BN, and hundreds of tactical jammers cover the battlefield in a dense electromagnetic fog. Every frequency is potentially compromised. Every unencrypted communication is a deadly risk.

In this context, Russian doctrine pursues two simultaneous objectives: blinding Ukrainian drones by severing their data links, and isolating combat units by cutting communications between them and their commands. The Himera answer attacks both objectives at once, providing redundant, encrypted, and autonomous connectivity that rebuilds itself around interference.

The asymmetric advantage of lightness

At 300 grams, the G1 Pro is three times lighter than competing radios. For a soldier already carrying 30 to 40 kilograms of equipment, every gram saved is a tactical decision. The light weight of the Himera system enables large-scale adoption, in light infantry units, reconnaissance forces, drone teams — everywhere mobility is critical.

Long-life batteries are another decisive advantage. For a three-day mission, a radio operator must carry five to ten batteries depending on operational load. The reduced energy consumption of Himera devices lightens that burden and simplifies logistics in environments where resupply is uncertain or dangerous.

Collaboration with Canada and Denmark: an emerging technological NATO

Quantropi: Canadian post-quantum cryptography in Ukraine's service

The partnership between Himera and the Canadian firm Quantropi is a powerful signal: the war in Ukraine is catalyzing unprecedented technological cooperation between the West and the Ukrainian defense industry. Quantropi develops encryption solutions resistant to future quantum computers — a threat still theoretical today, but one that military strategists take seriously for long-term communications.

This collaboration prefigures a new form of collective security: no longer merely sharing weapons, but co-developing protection technologies. Ukraine brings field experience. Canada brings fundamental cryptography research. NATO will benefit from both.

Systematic Inc. and integration into NATO networks

The ongoing integration with SitaWare, the command system from the Danish company Systematic Inc., is perhaps the most concrete sign of Himera's trajectory. SitaWare is used by many NATO armies — its compatibility with Himera equipment would potentially open up considerable markets throughout the Alliance.

Himera systems are already compatible with ATAK, the American command-and-control platform. That compatibility is not accidental — it is a deliberate strategic decision to position the company as a natural supplier to Western militaries. Himera is building interoperability before it even has the contracts. That is a remarkable level of commercial maturity for a startup of 50 employees born in wartime.

What Himera says about Ukraine at war

Constraint-driven innovation as a model for the future

Himera's story illustrates a broader phenomenon: the war in Ukraine has produced a military innovation ecosystem without precedent in recent history. Hundreds of startups, small labs, teams of engineers are simultaneously solving real problems posed by a real adversary, with field feedback cycles measured in weeks rather than years.

"Very few Ukrainian teams have managed to design, build, and scale a military electronic device in small series," an industry observer notes. Himera is part of that exclusive club. And what distinguishes that club is not talent alone — it is the existential pressure that turns every engineer into a solver of vital problems.

An exportable model for democracies under pressure

This model of rapid innovation, immediate field feedback, and accelerated delivery should fascinate Western defense ministries still struggling with acquisition cycles of ten to fifteen years. Ukraine has compressed those cycles into weeks. Necessity has accomplished what administrative reforms failed to do.

For democracies waking up to rearmament, the Ukrainian model — tight partnerships between industry and the front, short cycles, tolerance for experimentation — could be the most valuable lesson of this war. Himera is not just a product. It is a proof of concept for the future of democratic defense.

The direct address: what I expect from you

To you, the defense acquisition officials of NATO member countries

If you are reading these lines from a ministry office in Ottawa, Berlin, Paris, Warsaw, or Washington, I make a direct request: visit Ukrainian defense exhibitions. Meet the teams from Brave1, Ukraine's defense innovation hub. Test Himera systems in your own environments. Do not let acquisition bureaucracy turn a technological lead into a missed opportunity.

The American firm Reticulate Micro already understood. One EU ministry already understood. The rest of NATO must accelerate. The time administration takes to approve a new supplier is time that Russia uses to deploy new jammers. The urgency is not a rhetorical device — it is an operational reality.

To you, the citizens who fund these armies

You have the right to know that your taxes finance communication systems that sometimes date from the 1980s and 1990s while 50-employee Ukrainian startups deliver in three weeks technologies your armies could not obtain for years through their normal acquisition cycles. Bureaucratic inertia has a human cost — on today's battlefields and tomorrow's.

Supporting Ukraine does not stop at sending tanks and missiles. It also means recognizing, adopting, and integrating Ukrainian innovation into our own defense systems. Himera deserves to be in NATO's acquisition manual — not in five years, now.

Conclusion: The signal must get through, whatever it takes

What Himera proves about Ukraine

Himera proves that Ukraine is not merely a passive battlefield absorbing Russian blows. It is an active laboratory manufacturing the tools of its own survival and bequeathing them as a technological legacy to the entire democratic world. Radios weighing 300 grams, 45 kilometers of range, 256-bit reinforced encryption, three weeks to deliver — these figures are not commercial promises. They are realities verified under the worst imaginable conditions.

The signal gets through. It will get through. Because Ukrainian engineers decided it had to.

What I ask of my reader

Whether you are a policy maker, a defense officer, a journalist, or simply an attentive citizen: talk about Himera. Share this story. Demand that your representatives take an interest in this Ukrainian innovation ecosystem. The information war is also won by telling the right stories — and the story of a Kyiv startup keeping Ukrainian military communications alive under Russian jammers is one of the most important to tell in 2026.

The future of free defense is not written only in Washington or Brussels. It is also written in workshops in Kyiv, at 300 grams per network node, three weeks at a time.

By Maxime Marquette, columnist

Columnist's transparency note

Who I am and my acknowledged biases

I am Maxime Marquette, a columnist specializing in defense, geopolitics, and military technology. I am openly pro-Ukrainian: I believe Ukrainian victory is in the interest of democracies, and that supporting Ukraine is both a moral and strategic imperative. This bias shapes my perspective — I own it fully and invite you to bear it in mind as you read.

I have no financial ties to Himera, Quantropi, or any other company mentioned in this article. My sources are public and cited in the Sources section. I have never visited the Ukrainian front lines and make no claim to ground-operator expertise.

What I do not know and my method

I do not know with certainty which exact Ukrainian units use Himera systems in which specific operations — that information is protected for obvious operational reasons. I do not know current production figures, sales volumes, or the precise financial health of the company. Everything I assert in this article comes from verifiable journalistic sources, public statements, and data published by Euromaidanpress and other specialist media.

My method: read primary sources in English, check figures against multiple sources, never attribute quotes I have not found in the original texts, and clearly distinguish what is established (F), cautiously inferred (I), or editorial (E). Passages in italics are my opinions — not facts.

Sources

Primary sources

Euromaidanpress — Himera: the Kyiv startup keeping the signal alive on the world's most jammed battlefield — June 26, 2026

Militarnyi — The Hornet drone forces Russians to build a multi-layered countermeasure system — June 2026

Euromaidanpress — Ukraine wants an AI-driven army: its new defense center is already putting AI inside the kill chain — June 25, 2026

Secondary sources

Kyiv Independent — Front videos and Ukrainian defense technologies — 2026

United24 Media — Ukrainian defense news — July 2026

Euromaidanpress — Category: Russian aggression — 2026