The article will consider modern multi-purpose and attack drones of Ukraine, their technical characteristics and combat capabilities.
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In this article, you will learn about the latest threats on the battlefield – fiber optic FPV drones, which Russian forces are actively using in the war against Ukraine. They are controlled via a special fiber-optic cable, making them nearly invulnerable to conventional electronic warfare (EW) weapons.
The idea of using optical fiber to transmit information is not new. Fiber optic communication technology first began to develop in the middle of the 20th century, when scientists investigated the possibility of transmitting data using light pulses through a glass cable. The first practical applications of fiber optics were in telecommunications and civilian communications networks, but they quickly became of interest to the military due to their immunity to radio interference.
In the military field, optical fiber first began to be used in the 1970s, when the US Navy used fiber optic communication lines on board warships to increase the security of communications. Subsequently, this technology was used in various types of weapons, in particular, in anti-tank missiles, which received control signals via a fiber cable, which significantly increased their accuracy and reliability.
Fiber optic drones as a concept began to evolve in the 21st century as new opportunities emerged to integrate fiber optics into unmanned aerial vehicles. However, significant attention to this technology arose only in the context of modern military conflicts. In 2022, Ukrainian engineers conducted the first experimental tests of fiber-optic drones for safe communication on the battlefield, but at that time this technology did not receive adequate support and was not put into mass production.
Unexpectedly, the Russian military was the first to use fiber-optic drones on the battlefield in large numbers in 2024. A Russian drone model known as the “Prince Vandal of Novgorod” became widely used in combat, especially in conditions where radio interference was powerful and effectively neutralized traditional radio-controlled drones. This became a kind of “revolutionary moment” in the war of drones, prompting the military and developers to actively search for new ways to counter and create their own fiber-optic drones.
Thus, fiber-optic drones have progressed from engineering concept to actual combat use, demonstrating both their significant advantages and shortcomings that have yet to be addressed to achieve full effectiveness on the battlefield.
The Russian military began to massively use small quadcopters at the front, which are extremely difficult to neutralize. These drones operate on the basis of old fiber-optic communication technology, which unexpectedly found a new application in the war in Ukraine.
At the end of the summer, the first videos appeared showing how such FPV drones destroy Ukrainian equipment and personnel. With the onset of autumn, Russian Z-channels on Telegram began to distribute similar footage on a daily basis.
Most often, such drones are used on the territory of the Kursk region, although their use is also recorded in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Russian sources often call these drones “Prince Vandal of Novgorod”. They are manufactured by the scientific and industrial center “Ushkuynyk” in Veliky Novgorod.
For the first time, this drone was tested in combat on August 13 this year in the Kursk region. Since then, there have been dozens, and perhaps even hundreds, of photo and video confirmations of the Vandal hitting Ukrainian tanks, armored vehicles, and shelters.
The head of the manufacturing company “Vandala”, Oleksiy Chadaev, describes the technology of its operation as “revolutionary”.
“At the moment, we have statistics of almost a thousand combat applications. The results are pretty good, with only one or two cable breaks per 10 runs, and we plan to lower that rate. Then everything depends on the skill of the operator. Yes, the drone has a significant weight and does not maneuver very quickly, because the coil and the warhead are fixed on it. However, with certain training, he can deliver accurate blows,” he said in an interview for TASS.
So, what is really “revolutionary” in this development?
To control this drone, i.e. to transmit commands from the operator to the drone, instead of radio waves, a light beam transmitted through a special ultra-thin glass cable is used.
The idea of transmitting information through light waves originated about 170 years ago in Victorian England. British physicist John Tyndall conducted an experiment in which he directed light along a stream of falling water, demonstrating the principle of signal transmission through total internal reflection.
However, the technologies for the practical application of these ideas appeared only in the 1930s.
In 1934, American engineer Norman French patented an optical telephone system in which speech signals were transmitted using light through rods of pure glass. Two decades later, the American company used the term “fiber optics” for the first time.
20 years later, Rediffusion deployed the first commercial fiber-optic system for the transmission of analog television signals, marking the beginning of widespread commercial use of fiber-optic communication systems.
These technologies immediately attracted the interest of the military. In 1973, the US Navy first installed a fiber-optic communication line on the Little Rock ship. In the USSR, the first facilities with fiber-optic communication lines appeared only at the end of the 1980s.
Later, such systems began to be widely used in anti-tank missile systems. In particular, the Israeli Spike complex and its modernized German version Mells use optical fiber to correct the missile’s flight, which provides accuracy at a distance of up to 4-5 km.
The essence of the process looks quite simple: an electrical signal on one device is converted into a light pulse using a special converter. This light moves along the cable to the receiver, where it is converted back into an electrical signal.
A semiconductor microlaser or LED serves as a light source, and the signal is transmitted by changing the intensity of the light flux. Although the transmission is slower than the speed of light (due to the limited power of microlasers and the effect of refraction), it is significantly faster than other methods.
Interrupting such a connection can only be done physically by damaging the fiber optic cable.
In fact, the drone moves as if it is “tied” to a thin thread, the other end of which is connected to the operator’s remote control. This cable is gradually unwound from the reel attached to the drone. This approach is radically different from the standard control of front-line drones, which receive control signals using radio waves.
By installing radio interference on a certain frequency on which the drone operates, it can be neutralized. This is what the work of EW (radio-electronic warfare) means is aimed at.
The last three years of full-scale war have been marked by constant confrontation between drones and EW. FPV drone manufacturers were moving to other frequency bands, and electronic warfare specialists had to adapt quickly. Such a “frequency war” could continue for a long time. However, fiber-optic drones are a game-changer.
Thanks to fiber optics, no EW or other types of electromagnetic interference can affect these deadly drones. It is urgently necessary to develop new countermeasures, experts are convinced. It is especially unfortunate for Ukraine, because it was Ukraine that should have taken the first such step, not the enemy. According to specialists, all the prerequisites were there for this.
“We developed the first such drone – attention – a year and a half ago!” – says the young engineer Maksym Sheremet, head of the “Dronarnia” organization, expressing his indignation.
Indeed, as early as March 2024, the mass media published publications about his invention – a fiber-optic controlled drone called “Banderyk-Strichka”.
This prototype had a tactical range of about 1 km, an air time of 15 minutes and could carry up to 3 kg of payload.
Last year, “Banderyk” successfully passed the state tests of the Ministry of Defense, but it never entered mass production. According to the inventor, military officials said that “this technology is not relevant.” “They laughed in our faces, said that it was unrealistic, that it had no future. They said: why do we need this, when drones are already flying?”
His words are confirmed by the well-known Ukrainian specialist and consultant in the field of military radio technologies Serhii Beskrestnov (call sign “Flash”).
“The first flights on optical fiber were shown to the military by our Ukrainian boys as early as 2022. This decision did not arouse interest then,” he said.
Already this year, at least two groups of Ukrainian developers have taken up this topic again and brought their products to potential readiness for the series, “Flash” added.
“And the product was launched by the enemy in series and mass use on the front. Unfortunately, this is the trend of the entire war. We are the first to come up with it, they scale it up faster,” he added.
Beskrestnov also reported that after the Russians began actively using fiber-optic drones, an “officer from the General Staff of the Armed Forces” approached him with a request to “urgently come up with something against these drones.”
But it is precisely with the invention of means of counteraction to these invulnerable drones that there is a main problem. As of now, none of the parties has a ready solution. The Air Force of Ukraine sent a request to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to confirm information about problems with the adoption of fiber-optic drones.
Maria Berlinska, a volunteer and head of the “Aerial Intelligence Support Center”, notes that although such drones are called “wedding”, “hobby”, “tourist”, “kitchen” or even “thread”, those who have seen their combat use understand how powerful they can be a weapon in skillful hands.
However, not everyone sees fiber-optic drones as a real technological breakthrough in this war.
Ivan Kyrychevskyi, an expert at the Defense Express agency, believes that fiber-optic cable is only one of the possible directions for the development of drones.
“The presence of an optical fiber does not add superpower to the drone, does not increase the power of the warhead and does not make it invulnerable to being shot down, for example, with a shotgun,” he noted for the Ukrainian Air Force.
Kyrychevskyi explains that currently both sides of the conflict are actively experimenting with various modifications of UAVs — integrating optical fiber, machine vision systems and analyzing what works best in combat conditions.
According to him, the accuracy of the drone’s impact depends not only on the stability of control, but also on the aerodynamic properties of the device and the skill of the operator.
Therefore, according to Kyrychevskyi, it is premature to call fiber optic technology “revolutionary”.
“This is just another stage in the development of technologies and weapons,” he adds. — We either make a mockery of Russian weapons, or we give them extraordinary power. But this is just a natural course of technology evolution.”
The first is the maneuverability of the drone. Being tethered to a thin cable makes the structure seem vulnerable, and any tree or pole can stop such a drone. This limits its range and capabilities, forcing it to fly only along roads without physical obstacles. However, engineer Maksym Sheremet, who has experience flying such a drone, calls these claims “absurd.”
Sheremet explains that during flight, the cable is automatically unwound and calmly rests on top of trees or other obstacles. It is extremely difficult to break it. The only things that should be avoided are sharp turns or rapid descents followed by a climb to avoid tangling the fiber.
“Operating an FPV drone with fiber optic communication is much easier,” he notes, “because the operator always has a stable picture, there is no need to have the skills to bypass EW zones or understand the principles of the radio horizon.”
The second reason for skepticism is the high cost of optical fiber. Indeed, this was one of the main reasons for doubts on the part of the Ukrainian General Staff, which called such drones “irrelevant”.
Last year, a reel of 10 km of fiber optic cable cost about $3,000, which is almost 10 times more expensive than a regular FPV quadcopter.
However, according to the head of “Dronarna”, the situation with the cost of optical fiber has changed radically. Thanks to the large number of Chinese products on the market and the start of production in Ukraine, it was possible to reduce the price from 3 thousand to only 100 dollars. Under these conditions, the total cost of the UAV will be about $1,000.
A third criticism of the fiber-optic drone concerns its limited payload. Indeed, the problem exists because the drone has to carry a heavy coil of cable in addition to the ammunition.
A coil for 10 km weighs about 1.2 kg, and for 15 km – about 2 kg. This means that a 10-inch FPV drone with a payload of 3-4 kg will be able to carry around 1.5 kg of ammunition.
However, the larger the drone, the greater its carrying capacity. In addition, even such a munition can cause significant damage to equipment, since the drone will be able to approach the target invisibly, and the operator will have constant visual contact thanks to a stable video transmission through fiber optics.
The question of how to neutralize a fiber-optic UAV remains open. “Combating such drones is one of the most urgent and difficult tasks, on which all manufacturers are currently actively working,” says engineer Maksym Sheremet.
According to interviewed experts, the following options are possible for solving this problem.
First, in order to destroy a drone, it must first be detected. Standard means of radio-electronic intelligence do not work here, because such drones do not use radio communication.
Therefore, other detection methods remain. The simplest is visual, that is, optical detection. For this, special modules with video cameras can be installed on armored vehicles, which will constantly monitor similar objects in the sky.
Secondly, it is possible to detect such drones using ultrasonic or infrared sensors. And, thirdly, these drones can be spotted using acoustic sensors.
However, all these methods still remain only “raw ideas” that require further development and, most importantly, verification in real combat conditions.
The second aspect of neutralizing a fiber-optic drone is its physical destruction. At first glance, the task looks simpler, but implementing it in practice is much more difficult.
Obviously, the most effective way to prevent a strike is to shoot down the drone as it approaches the target after detection. For this, you can use sniper rifles, which are already used by both sides of the conflict, as well as shotguns with buckshot.
Another method is to stretch special transparent nets, for example, made of strong fishing line, over the positions or parking lots of equipment. The drone may become entangled in such a net, causing it to detonate prematurely or fall.
In any case, as Maksym Sheremet notes, the state and leading technological experts of Ukraine should immediately work on creating their own fiber-optic UAVs. He believes that next year could be a breakthrough year for such drones, similar to how FPV drones became an important weapon in 2022-23. At first they were underestimated, but now their use is estimated in the millions on both sides.
Fiber-optic drones can become an even more dangerous weapon, primarily due to the lack of currently effective countermeasures.
Although fiber-optic drones have significant advantages, such as immunity to radio interference and high control precision, they also have a number of significant disadvantages that limit their effectiveness on the battlefield.
Limited maneuverability. Because the fiber-optic drone is tethered to the operator by a cable, its movements are less flexible than those of radio-controlled drones. The drone may get stuck on obstacles such as trees or buildings. Therefore, this type of drone is more often used in open areas or along roads.
High cost. Optical fiber is significantly more expensive to manufacture, especially compared to traditional components for radio-controlled drones. The cost of a 10 km cable used to be around $3,000, although the price has now come down thanks to Chinese suppliers and local manufacturing. However, the price remains high and can become a serious obstacle for the mass use of such drones.
Limited payload. Fiber optic drones are forced to carry a heavy coil of cable, which reduces their ability to transport large munitions or other equipment. For example, a drone with a 10 km coil can only carry a small munition weighing up to 1.5 kg, which reduces its effectiveness compared to radio-controlled drones that can transport larger loads.
Vulnerability to physical cable damage. The primary method of neutralizing a fiber-optic drone is physical damage to the cable. If the cable is broken, the drone will lose communication with the operator and become uncontrollable. This greatly limits its effectiveness in difficult combat conditions or in areas with numerous physical obstacles.
Limited range of action. The range of the fiber-optic drone is limited by the length of the cable, usually up to 10-15 km. This makes them less effective for long-range missions, as they cannot operate further beyond the cable’s reach, unlike radio-controlled drones, which can cover much larger areas.
Great weight and volume. The presence of a reel with a cable increases the weight and dimensions of the drone, making it less maneuverable and more difficult to transport. This aspect complicates rapid deployment in the field and may require additional equipment to transport and prepare for use.
Problems with storage and transportation of the cable. Optical fiber is a very delicate material that can be damaged by improper storage or transportation. A long cable requires careful handling, as mechanical damage to it can cause the drone to become inoperable.
High probability of tracking by cable. The fiber-optic cable that connects the drone to the operator creates a vulnerable link that can make it easier to detect the operator’s position. An enemy can trace the cable and try to neutralize both the drone and its operator.
Sensitivity to weather conditions. Optical fiber can be vulnerable to extreme weather conditions such as high winds, rain or freezing temperatures. Weather conditions can interfere with the operation of the drone, especially in cases where the cable is subjected to heavy stress or damage.
Cable reusability is limited. Once the mission is completed or if the cable breaks, it is often impossible to reuse it. This increases the cost of each launch, as each new mission requires a new fiber optic coil.
These shortcomings make fiber-optic drones a specific technology that is not suitable for all conditions, and make it difficult for manufacturers to overcome their limitations.
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