‘They cannot be jammed’: fibre optic drones pose new threat in Ukraine
‘They cannot be jammed’: fibre optic drones pose new threat in Ukraine
Experimental kamikaze FPV drones have been developed that can penetrate spaces previously thought safe
At a secret workshop in Ukraine’s north-east, where about 20 people assemble hundreds of FPV (first person view) drones, there is a new design. Under the frame of the familiar quadcopter is a cylinder, the size of a forearm. Coiled up inside is fibre optic cable, 10km (6 miles) or even 20km long, to create a wired kamikaze drone.
Capt Yuriy Fedorenko, the commander of a specialist drone unit, the Achilles regiment, says fibre optic drones were an experimental response to battlefield jamming and rapidly took off late last year. With no radio connection, they cannot be jammed, are difficult to detect and able to fly in ways conventional FPV drones cannot.
“If pilots are experienced, they can fly these drones very low and between the trees in a forest or tree line. If you are flying with a regular drone, the trees block the signal unless you have a re-transmitter close,” he observes. Where tree lined supply roads were thought safer, fibre optic drones have been able to get through.
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This kind of idea is between genius and stupid.
It's a cheap an easy solution to a lot of problem, and it sounds like the kind of proposal an intern would do
Drone manufacturer: "We're having trouble with our drones getting jammed, any ideas?"
Intern: "I always use CAT6 for my pc"
Drone manufacturer: "You goddamn genius!"
Kids these days relying on wireless everything and don't realize the security and reliability of a wired connection.
It's neither, they're spare wire reels for older tow missiles which were wired for the same reason.
TIL thanks,
I heard about wired torpedo but didn't know it was also a thing for missiles
Yep, still used in combat too and chances are you've seen a video and just didn't know.
Anytime you see a video filmed from behind a missile and it keeps making smingly random swirling jinking movements it's likely to be a tow missile.
Curiously, the first wired torpedoes, you'd propel the torpedo forward by pulling on the wire that came out the back of it.
It’s neither, they’re spare wire reels for older tow missiles which were wired for the same reason.
Nope, it's all telecom fiber. TOW uses copper to my knowledge (never seen one, not fully certain). Droners use telecom grade single mode fiber (fused silica, 125 micrometer diameter, acrylic coated).
Its not copper either. The meth heads outside the military bases knew to leave TOW wire as recycling places wont take it. I was a TOW gunner and had to reel in miles of that shit when we finished a training range.
Its absolutely a metal of some sort, but it's super strong. If it wrapped around your boot and you yanked to it to get it off, it would cut straight through your boot. Insanely strong but you could still snip it with scissors. Wild shit.
https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2023/05/fibre-optic-guided-missiles-efog-m-polyphem-and-others/
Depends on the missile but in this case we know they've said they got the idea from old tow missile reels because the folks who built them made mention of it.
Sure, but a 20km attack radius in terms of something that can fly seems... Idk less than effective.
It would work for precision bombing nearby targets, but for long range strikes like Ukraine does, they need to be untethered.
But in those cases, i doubt they run remotely, rather they set a GPS destination and they use a combination of astral navigation and inertial navigation to hit their intended target, just like missiles.
Just much slower, smaller and lower flying missiles. Can't shoot what you can't see on radar.
They are generally tactical weapons, not strategic.
And here my civvy ass is goin "wait they're different?"
When talking about attack drones, historically that has described an unmanned bomber that has significant range and strike capability. These are a strategic asset, operated far back from the front and making big-picture attacks. They replace cruise missiles and manned bombers.
The war in Ukraine has led to the first major deployment of tactical drones. These are relatively short range and operated in the field. Some are simply hobby drones rigged up to be able to drop a grenade, while others are flown straight into a target and explode. This article is talking about the latter, which is basically a replacement for anti-tank missiles.
When compared against a missile you have to have line of sight to guide to the target, a 20km range is a huge step up.
Oh. Dang yo, I didn't even think about out of sight anti-tanl. That's a huge step up. You're no longer looking down the barrel of a 130mm(idk) gun hoping your missile hits before they fire
A 150-200mm drone frame wouldn't have that kind of range in its battery, anyway. There are useful drones in the war that are even smaller than that.
Ok so I have an 85mm micro whoop. Or had i probably should toss the batteries. Those batteries last 3 minutes tops, so you'd be limited to maybe a round trip of 3km, 5km if you let it die where you send it.
That's not carrying anything, that's just remote surveillance. I get how that can be insanely useful on the battlefield, but if you attach a 20km fiber optic cable (without adding in friction of the cable and air resistance) on an 85mm it's going a fat lot of nowhere. It's about 125g per meter of fiber optic.
Unless the drones you're talking are tiny ultralight plane things with some incredible battery, I don't see any tiny drone with that kind of range.
Unless! Unless, and I don't find it very likely, but there's some other power delivery going on I don't know about.