Czech Volunteers Crowdfund a Blackhawk Helicopter for Ukraine

A feel-good story is what we need right now

A UH-60 Blackhawk carrying West Virginia National Guard Ridge Runner exercise participants arrives at Tygart Lake to conduct a military operations rehearsal in Grafton, West Virginia, July 16, 2025. Public domain

The first time I rode in a UH-60 Blackhawk, I thought it was about to explode. Not because of enemy fire, but because the rotors threw sparks in the high static environment like a Fourth of July show gone wrong.

I now know this is called the Kopp–Etchells effect.

But at the time, no one told me this was normal. I sat there, waiting for the whole aircraft to catch fire, while the crew chief calmly chewed gum like this was Tuesday. I think it was a Tuesday.

Another time, I nearly became a Blackhawk skid ornament. My task was to spin an infrared chemlight tied to 550 (parachute) cord in a circle so the pilot could spot the landing zone with night vision goggles. It was a very small landing zone surrounded on all sides by large Kentucky trees.

So, the Blackhawk needed to land exactly where I told it to land.

Job well done, except the bird came in right on top of me. I jumped clear at the last second, heart pounding, rotor wash kicking dirt into every exposed pore. The pilot landed exactly where I had been standing. Mission accomplished, though my dry-cleaning bill would disagree.

The spinning chemlight for helicopter landing. In my case, it would have only been visible on night vision devices because my chemlight was in the IR spectrum. Public domain.

This was my introduction to the UH-60. A war machine that looks ungainly on the ground but transforms into a scalpel in the sky (with a good pilot). Now, decades later, these same helicopters are showing up in Ukraine, not delivered by Washington, but crowdfunded by ordinary citizens of Czechia and Slovakia.

Now, some veterans, I think, might be overly critical of the Blackhawk. They say it has an abysmal safety record (it doesn’t). What it does have is over 15 million flight hours, including 5 million in combat. Of course, it’s going to have its share of mishaps with that much flight time! That’s just statistics.

Interestingly, we rarely hear of helicopters in Ukraine. The battlefield has evolved to the point where flying a rotary-wing machine anywhere near the frontlines is a death sentence.

Take this story as Exhibit A: A Colombian Blackhawk was just downed by an FPV drone while the government was running a counter-drug operation.

The Crowdfunded Blackhawk

Now, in one of the most remarkable grassroots defense stories yet, over 20,000 donors across Czechia, Slovakia, and beyond pitched in to buy Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (DIU) a UH-60A+ Blackhawk. The campaign, fittingly named “Gift for Putin,” raised more than 72 million Czech crowns, about $2.87 million, enough to secure a bird outside Europe, cheaper and newer than the original target model.

The helicopter, named Čestmír (“Peaceful”), has already been delivered to Ukraine. Czechia is the first country in the world where civilians crowdfunded a helicopter for a foreign army.

The same movement had already bought Ukraine tanks, ammo, and even air defense systems. Now they’ve graduated to rotary-wing aircraft.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence already operates two UH-60s, first spotted in 2023 and 2024. These birds are ideal for special operations, deep insertions, and yes, counter-drone warfare.

Blackhawks are faster, quieter, and more reliable than many of Ukraine’s remaining Soviet-era Mi-8s and Mi-24s. The A+ variant packs two T700-GE-701D turboshaft engines, each 25% more powerful than the baseline, giving it the thrust needed for hot-and-high missions or carrying extra kit.

In DIU hands, these aircraft can ferry operators closer to Russian lines, resupply cut-off units, or even launch night raids with the kind of precision Moscow hates.

The DIU says to think of them as flying Swiss Army knives. Need to insert a six-man hit team into Crimea at 2 a.m. from the coast? Iffy, but maybe Blackhawk could do it. Need to evacuate wounded operators under fire? Blackhawk has done it. Need to sling-load a destroyed Russian Orlan drone back to Kyiv so engineers can reverse-engineer it? Blackhawk could do it.

But the symbolism here matters almost as much as the hardware. Ukraine now has American-made helicopters operating alongside Soviet-era Hinds and Hips. One aircraft represents the past, designed for brute force, armor, and volume of fire. The other represents the future, agile, modular, tailored for special operations.

A Hind can lumber in with rockets and brute force. A Blackhawk can slip in, insert a sabotage team, and vanish before the Russians even realize their oil depot just lit up like a Christmas tree.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence will almost certainly keep its UH-60s well clear of Russian long-range SAM belts and MANPADS-infested frontlines. Instead, the helicopters are primed for roles in Ukraine’s own rear areas and near-front zones where they can make a difference without becoming flying targets.

This is how I see Ukraine using its Blackhawks:

First, there’s rapid troop movement and supply transport.

In a war where trucks are ambushed by drones and railways are hammered by missile strikes, a Blackhawk can move small units, ammo, or sensitive cargo across Ukraine in hours instead of days.

This flexibility is invaluable for shuttling special operations teams between bases or resupplying units in areas where roads are unsafe.

Next, Ukraine’s medevac system has been shredded by drone threats, which make ground convoys risky. A UH-60 configured for MEDEVAC can fly in wounded from stabilized rear positions, bridging the gap between frontline stabilization points and hospitals farther west. Even one or two helicopters can save hundreds of lives.

Perhaps the biggest capability could be in drone defense.

Outfitted with night-vision targeting systems and miniguns, Blackhawks can patrol above key bases or infrastructure as a mobile counter-drone screen. Their endurance and firepower make them ideal for plugging gaps between static air defense systems.

Ukraine’s Mi-8 Hips are doing this exact job: protecting Ukraine from Shaheds.

Every time one of these birds takes off in Ukrainian markings, it sends a message: Ukraine isn’t stuck with the Soviet past, it is flying into a Western future. For Russia, watching American Blackhawks operate openly in Ukraine is a propaganda defeat in itself.

In August 2025, two Ukrainian Blackhawks were spotted flying over Poland on an undisclosed mission. That’s a subtle reminder: They’re flying, operational, and doing jobs Ukraine doesn’t advertise.

The fact that a group of ordinary Europeans just handed Ukraine a combat helicopter speaks volumes about this war’s dynamic. Russia has oil money, factories, and forced labor. Ukraine has brains, allies, and apparently Czech grandmothers willing to dip into their savings for a Blackhawk.

This is people-powered warfare. It also highlights something deeper: the global rejection of Putin’s war. When thousands of private citizens pool cash to buy Ukraine warbirds, it is not charity. It is defiance.

Having flown in them, I can tell you this: there is a reason the UH-60 is still America’s workhorse decades after it entered service. It is reliable, versatile, and trusted by operators from Mogadishu to Mosul. Ukraine is now in that club.

Sure, Ukraine’s fleet is tiny… three, maybe four at most, but that is how special operations forces thrive. Small numbers, high impact. And in a war where every strike behind enemy lines is magnified by propaganda and panic, even a single helicopter can change the tempo.

If you want to know how Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence will use this bird, look no further than their motto: Sapere Aude: Dare to Know. With Blackhawks in their toolkit, Ukraine dares to hit Russia where it hurts, with speed and precision.

Those sparks on my first Blackhawk ride and that near-death chemlight dance are two of my fondest memories of my time in the Army. Now, Ukrainians will have their own stories, forged not in training exercises but in real combat against Russia’s occupying forces.

And the best part? Somewhere in Ukraine right now, a DIU operator is strapping into a crowdfunded Blackhawk named Čestmír, ready to help his country keep the fight going.

That’s it for today, friends. Subscribing is the best way to support my continued writing. The community here has been amazing over the past two years. And as always, Слава Україні!

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