A weapon entirely immune to jamming: How Ukraine is rolling out production of fibre-optic drones
The Ukrainian military once believed drones that communicate with their operators via fibre-optic links would not be necessary on the battlefield. However, that perspective has shifted with the advancement of electronic warfare technology, and now Ukraine is producing fibre-optic drones.
Ukraine's Armed Forces launched an offensive in Russia's Kursk Oblast in early January. Russian Telegram accounts noted the quality of Ukrainian electronic warfare (EW) equipment, which reportedly managed to bring down all Russian drones – except for the fibre-optic ones.
Russian fibre-optic drones differ significantly from conventional First-Person View (FPV) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). They are controlled through an exceptionally long wire that unravels over several kilometres during flight. Since these drones do not rely on radio communications, even the finest electronic EW equipment is powerless against them.
The term "wire-controlled drones" seemed ridiculous just two years ago, but today, they pose a significant challenge to the Ukrainian military. This is a case where the Russians have outpaced Ukraine in both development and scaling.
It wasn’t until recently that Ukraine woke up and sent a clear signal to domestic manufacturers that fibre-optic drones are very much needed by the military at the front, with the state ready to purchase them in large quantities.
Fibre-optic products have the potential to carve out a significant niche in drone warfare this year. Dozens of Ukrainian engineering teams are already developing their own models of these UAVs and components, aiming to fill the market gap within months.
Fibre optics or machine vision?
Almost any drone’s vulnerability lies in its communication, which relies on radio frequencies. EW operators detect these frequencies and target them with a powerful signal. If the EW equipment jams the correct frequency, the drone loses communication and crashes a hundred metres from its target.
The battle between EW assets and FPV drones has no clear winner yet. UAV operators set up repeaters and signal amplifiers to prevent losing the image as they approach the target while also dynamically changing operating frequencies to locate the enemy's exposed positions.
Simultaneously, EW operators are jamming an increasing number of frequencies, cleverly placing their antennas on the battlefield, detecting enemy frequencies with the help of electronic intelligence and finding ways to keep their equipment powered up.
Today, even seasoned UAV operators require a few attempts to hit their targets, with a small percentage of FPV drones successfully reaching their intended destination. Russian and Ukrainian engineers continue to search for a "magic pill" that would make FPV drones entirely immune to electronic warfare, leaving the enemy utterly defenceless against them.
This is technically feasible through two main approaches: equipping the drone with machine vision or using fibre optics for control. Each method has its pros and cons.
In the first approach, the drone independently locks onto the target, eliminating the need for communication with the operator in the final few hundred metres before hitting the target. In the second approach, the operator steers the drone to the target from start to finish, using a wired connection that ensures protection against jamming.
Machine vision is a technologically sophisticated solution that requires high-quality component assembly, a trained neural network and many months of testing. By contrast, fibre-optic drones are less complex technologically but come with higher production costs, shorter flight ranges, reduced manoeuvrability and a smaller explosive payload.
In early 2024, given the obvious drawbacks of fibre-optic drones, everyone was sure engineers would opt for machine vision. In the summer, Ukraine even announced the first state tender for such drones. But so far, this technology hasn't fully proved itself.
"Machine vision isn't developing as fast as we'd expected", Oleksii Babenko, CEO of Ukrainian drone manufacturer Vyriy Drone, told Ekonomichna Pravda. Some manufacturers sent drones to the front with rather weak guidance algorithms. Another issue is that Russian EW equipment is placed along the route, not near the target, so the operator risks losing their drone before even seeing the target. All developers are now reassessing the challenges and improving their algorithms. We’re preparing to introduce a drone with an upgraded camera and enhanced systems capable of locking onto a target over a kilometre away. To address the issue of EW along the route, we’ve developed a cruise control function that allows the drone to fly autonomously to the target. I believe a second big wave of adopting machine vision for FPV drones will begin by the end of winter."
The Russians decided not to wait for their machine vision technology to fully mature and instead pursued a parallel approach, starting mass production of fibre-optic drones.
The concept isn’t new. In the 1970s, the USSR developed the Fagot anti-tank guided missile system, which used a long wire to guide the missile. Later, wire control became popular in civilian drones, which are used for tasks like inspecting tunnels, pipes, mines and other areas with poor connectivity.
The emergence of fibre-optic military drones was only a matter of time. The first prototype models from Russian and Ukrainian engineers were shown in 2023. Still, it was the Russians who fully embraced the technology and rapidly scaled up production, partnering with Chinese factories.
Read also: New year, new weapons: What does 2025 hold for the Ukrainian defence industry?
The design of these drones is largely similar to conventional combat FPVs, with the key difference being a larger body and more powerful batteries to accommodate a several-kilogramme coil of wire that unravels during flight. The smallest drones can operate at distances of up to 2 km, while the largest can reach up to 20 km. The wire connects to the operator’s control panel and transmits a high-quality image with minimal delay.
Since the summer of 2024, numerous videos have shown Russian fibre-optic drones in action in two areas considered key by Russia – the Kursk and Pokrovsk fronts. It quickly became clear that these drones were effective and urgently needed by the Ukrainian military.
Ukrainian fibre-optic drones
At the beginning of the year, the Defence Ministry sent a clear signal to the market by organising demonstration tests of fibre-optic drones. "It typically takes six months to a year for an effective solution to develop from appearing on the front line to becoming a state order in Ukraine. We are currently witnessing this with fibre-optic drones", Babenko emphasised.
The Defence Procurement Agency of the Ministry of Defence told Ekonomichna Pravda that no contracts have yet been signed with manufacturers, although the process of preparing the first agreements has already begun. However, it’s not only the Ministry of Defence that can purchase such drones, but also other security agencies such as the State Special Communications Service, charitable foundations and military units themselves.
"We proposed developing a fibre-optic drone as early as the beginning of 2023, but the army did not want to purchase them", said Vladyslav Oleksiienko, co-founder of Smart Electronics Group, in a comment to Ekonomichna Pravda. At that time, conventional FPV drones were sufficient to strike the enemy, and fibre optics significantly increased the cost of the drone. Two years ago, a spool of fibre-optic cable with a signal transmission chip from Chinese manufacturers cost up to US$2,500. No one wanted to pay that kind of money for a single-use drone."
Now the situation has changed drastically: conventional FPV drones are increasingly being jammed by electronic warfare systems, and the price of fibre-optic spools has dropped to US$500 each, as Chinese factories received large-scale orders from Russia and ramped up production capacity.
Technologically, these drones are quite simple. Our model is undergoing codification and will be ready for contracting and serial production as early as February,"
The biggest beneficiaries of the spread of this new technology are Chinese factories, which sell spools of fibre-optic cable to both sides of the war.
"We recently learned that one of the Chinese factories has been producing fibre-optic spools for Russia for seven months. We now order from them as well", one Ukrainian drone manufacturer said off the record.
The Brave1 technological cluster told Ekonomichna Pravda that more than 25 teams of engineers are currently working on developing this technology. Around ten of them are preparing documentation to codify their drones, which will pave the way for their first contracts. One model has already been codified, and two others are being finalised. The cluster supports engineering teams throughout the process and assists with testing.
There are now factories in Ukraine capable of producing thousands of such drones each month. To expedite procurement, Brave1 has compiled a catalogue of fibre-optic drone manufacturing companies with their contact information, which is updated in real time.
Heavy hexacopters or "bombers" are also gradually being adapted to fibre-optic technology. For instance, Ukrainian media portal Militarnyi showcased tests of a drone developed by DronariumAir that features a fibre-optic communication system. In the event of a cable break, the drone can switch to GPS control or return to base autonomously. Additionally, the first ground-based drones with fibre-optic control systems are now emerging.
"Due to the high cost, it seemed that fibre-optic drones would never become widespread, but prices in the Ukrainian market are now falling", said Babenko. "Previously, the cheapest ones cost UAH 60,000–80,000 (approximately US$1,400–1,800), but now they are around 30,000 UAH (approximately US$700)." In his opinion, costs could bcome even lower if companies start independently manufacturing the key component – fibre-optic spools.
"We will produce the components ourselves. We have calculated that after scaling up production, our serial fibre-optic drone will only be UAH 3,000–6,000 (approximately US$70–140) more expensive than a standard radio-controlled one. The technology for winding fibre optics and assembling communication boards is not the simplest, but experienced engineers can master it easily. You need 25 people, 20 winding machines, and you'll have 5,000 spools a month," he noted.
How a fibre-optic winding machine works
Niche or mass-market product
The FPV drone market has split into drones for general and specialised purposes, explained Vladyslav Oleksiienko, co-founder of Smart Electronics Group.
"The first are standard radio-controlled drones assembled from Chinese components, which are always in high demand. The second are more advanced products with unique features and a specific niche. Fibre-optic drones belong to the "specialised" segment of the market."
Fibre-optic control has become a new trend on the frontline, but radio-controlled drones will still remain the primary tool for UAV operators. Military personnel and manufacturers interviewed by Ekonomichna Pravda agree that fibre-optic drones will occupy only a specific niche and will not be produced in the millions.
"Ideally, a unit should have plenty of standard FPV drones operating on different frequencies, drones with machine vision and fibre-optic drones. Each of these weapons is effective in its own way and serves specific tasks. Fibre-optic drones can be used against armoured vehicles during defensive operations. They work well in foggy conditions and are immune to vehicle-based electronic warfare systems.
At the same time, the 10-kilometre length of the fibre-optic cable does not allow these drones to fly as far as standard FPV drones, and their size makes them an easy target for the enemy", Ihor Raikov, a platoon commander in the anti-tank company of the 13th brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, Khartia, told Ekonomichna Pravda.
The most commonly cited disadvantages of fibre-optic drones are their limited range, smaller payload capacity, reduced manoeuvrability, high visibility in the air, cost and the risk of the cable snapping. However, according to Raikov, operators are just beginning to master this technology, so many issues that currently seem problematic may no longer be an issue as engineers improve the product or as the military learns to use it effectively.
Countering fibre-optic drones is another matter. Currently, neither Ukraine nor Russia has effective defences against these drones, making the development of countermeasures another challenge for Ukrainian engineers. "Ukrainian developers are exploring ideas for physically neutralising such FPV drones using turrets, net launchers and shotguns, as well as studying the use of lasers to disable them. These solutions are already being tested", representatives of Brave1 told Ekonomichna Pravda.
While Ukraine is only just starting the production of fibre-optic FPV drones, it is having to fight the Russians with radio-controlled drones. And soldiers are having to buy many of the drones' components with their own money.
The UAV operators from the anti-tank company of the 13th brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, Khartia, mentioned in the article, are in need of signal relays. These relatively inexpensive devices allow standard drones to destroy Russian troops at distances much greater than expected.
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Translation: Artem Yakymyshyn and Anastasiia Yankina
Editing: Shoël Stadlen