Inside Ukraine's Fiber-Optic Drone War

Yahoo

a day ago

Across the battlefield, both Ukraine and Russia are using fiber optic cables instead of radio waves to connect many of their first-person view (FPV) drones with their controllers. That makes them impervious to jamming and other forms of electronic warfare and helps mitigate the effects of terrain that can also interfere with radio control. Now, the commander of the First Corps Azov Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard's Unmanned Systems Battalion, who uses the call sign Yas, has given us the bottom-line on the current state of play when it comes to actually employing fiber optic FPVs as weapons in an exclusive interview.
It's worth noting that the Russians started the use of fiber optic wires on the FPV drone in the Spring of 2024 and Ukraine quickly followed suit. You can read more about that in our original story here.
Yas' comments on fiber optic FPVs are part of a nearly two-hour interview conducted on Memorial Day about the Unmanned Systems Battalion and its fight in and around the rubbled city of Toretsk in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. We will publish the rest of the conversation in the coming days. The questions and answers have been slightly edited for clarity.
Q: What is your experience using fiber optic cables on FPV drones?
A: I'm very lucky, because I have my people, and one of the members of our team, he practically made the implementation of this technology in our unit possible, and the idea is great, because you are operating in total radio silence, so you cannot be detected by any radar system [passive sensors]. And any electronic warfare means that later on, they are just inefficient. At the same time, the use of fiber optic cables, as with any FPV drone, has its own peculiarities of operation, and if the pilot is not skilled enough, that is going to lead to significant losses in such equipment and systems.
Ukrainian soldiers walk along a field covered in fiber-optic cable from FPV drones somewhere near the frontline. pic.twitter.com/TZpGWaj5eY
— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) May 27, 2025
Q: What's the percentage of targets hit with fiber-optic controlled drones?
A: I would say that there is approximately a 50% probability that a totally functional drone that flies on a combat mission will strike its target. And I would also like to mention that this technology is quite fragile. Any mistake in handling this drone can result in an unintended explosion, for example, or in a loss of control. So that's quite a surprising thing, but we also had such issues of control loss. Mistakes can result in the fiber optic tearing as well, but nevertheless, we also had some successful strikes with the fiber optic drones.
Q: Any other drawbacks to fiber optic cables that you can share?
A: When manufacturers are very hasty about selling their technology, selling their recently developed product to us, this is actually the segment of the systems that causes the most problems.
Q: How so?
A: Well, the problem was that at the start of the development of this technology, the majority of manufacturers did not produce the components for the drone themselves; they basically purchased the fiber optic systems from China, and they were just reselling the Chinese components. We were buying the technology without properly understanding how to deploy it. And there was also this issue with radio signals, so we needed to switch off the radio signal ourselves, because the manufacturers did not understand these specifics. And those manufacturers that just resold the components and drones from China proved to be inefficient in terms of their systems. But with time – not all of them, but at least some of them – listened to us, they paid attention to our feedback, and with time, they came to better products, which in turn can lead to a 50% probability of a successful strike, and even higher.
A Russian FPV drone located a Ukrainian fiber-optic quadcopter, and then cut the fiber-optic cable with its rotor blades, causing the Ukrainian drone to crash. https://t.co/CI8C0r7SxK
— Samuel Bendett (@sambendett) May 28, 2025
Q: What percentage of your drones use fiber optic cables?
A: This number is the lowest, and if I were to state a percentage, I would say that this is less than 5%.
Q: Why? This technology is widely used by Ukraine and Russia alike.
A: The popularity of this technology is the key reason why we cannot ensure we have a sufficient number of drones using this technology. We understand that in terms of quality, any good manufacturer that provides their clients with high-quality products – and this is just a basic market principle – they will always have a lot of clients. And in Ukraine, there are several good manufacturers of fiber optics for such drones, and they have quite a long waiting list. And then we have a dilemma when waiting for two to three months is quite a long period of time, and purchasing low-quality systems is also not an option for us.
Fiber-Optic FPV Drones Strike Enemy Targets We will find a countermeasure-resistant FPV drone to break through any Russian electronic warfare system. This is precisely the type of weapon deployed by Azov drone operators in the Toretsk sector.This video features strikes on… pic.twitter.com/hQXVBMoyD0
— First Corps Azov of the National Guard of Ukraine (@azov_media) March 24, 2025
Q: How much do fiber optic cable drones cost?
A: Well, the price is now quite lower at the moment for drones with a range of up to 10 kilometers (about 6.2 miles). It is approximately $1,200. But again, the key problem with ensuring a sufficient number of these drones is their deficit in general.
Q: What is the maximum range of your fiber-optic drones?
A: It all depends on the fiber optic coil that is used. We have efficiently used drones with ranges up to 15 kilometers (about 9.3 miles). I know about successful deployments of 20-kilometer (about 12.4 miles) drones. But at the same time, we know that the enemy already uses drones with up to 30 kilometers (about 18.6 miles) range.
Ukrainian drone manufacturer Alexey Babenko says that Ukrainian fiber optic FPVs are currently not as successful as Russian ones.Longer range spools in particular are only 30% successful at 15km compared to 80% for Russian flights up to 20km.1/ pic.twitter.com/yKRrgUd6AF
— Roy
(@GrandpaRoy2) April 30, 2025
Q: How do you bridge that gap?
A: It's quite difficult for me to say, because I'm a simple person, I mostly deal with the usage of the systems, and I think that the planning and the scaling of these technologies need to be undertaken at the state level. And I would very much like to say that everything is perfect in this regard. But unfortunately, it is not so there are the state at the moment doesn't ensure a steady supply of such systems, such drones. And that is why it is quite difficult for us to catch up with the enemy with regard to most systems. I wouldn't say with all of them, but at least with many systems, the enemy puts the processes at the state level. So we already have established processes at the state level, with simple drones, with radio control drones, etc, but in terms of the fiber optic drones, there is still much work to be done.
Thread 1/xUAS Battalion of the 12th Special Purpose Brigade 'Azov' hits Russian Comm Equipment with FPV dronesSource: https://t.co/U53IQ7vttHpic.twitter.com/8nsBC3J40m
— Audax (@AudaxonX) May 14, 2025
Q: What's the success rate of your radio-controlled drones?
A: I think that we need to divide this particular issue into two parts. The first is actually reaching the targets. And as you have mentioned, for fiber optic drones, the probability of reaching the target is really 50% and higher. And for radio drones, due to various reasons, including the frequency overloading problem and various different factors, the probability can be much lower. For example, it can decrease to 30% etc. But there is also the story of actually striking the target. So not only reaching but striking targets. And here, other factors also come into play.
For example, we can say that when the enemy is actively moving, when the enemy personnel is taking shelter, when they're hiding in basements and dugouts, etc, the probability of efficiently striking the target will be much lower than, for example, if we are deploying our drones in the open air. And the same story is true about deploying drones to strike enemy vehicles. So once again, there is a higher probability of reaching the target. So it's not a problem for a radio-controlled drone to reach a target. But there is, for example, an issue with the frequency overload, and we are trying to solve that through internal coordination, so we coordinate among the units in order not to overload one particular frequency. But there are also other aspects that also come into play.
Q: Such as?
A: If we delve deeper into the smaller details, we can say that these other factors include the enemy's tactics, the shooting down of our drones, and also definitely the electronic warfare measures that the enemy implements. The drones that are currently provided by the state are usually unable to operate at ranges more than five to eight kilometers (about 3.1 miles to about five miles) from the contact line. In terms of the enemy's electronic warfare (EW) measures, they have reached quite a high level of efficiency because they are frequently successful in suppressing, jamming our radio signal. We are trying to use better parts, more powerful parts, for our repeaters in order to provide coverage for our drones and to be able to continue efficiently deploying them.
Unlimited Destruction of Occupiers in the Toretsk SectorAzov's FPV drones strike without limits — there is a munition for every occupier.The video showcases a compilation of Russian light vehicles and personnel struck by the fighters of the Unmanned Systems Battalion of the… pic.twitter.com/5UHsqFV3eu
— First Corps Azov of the National Guard of Ukraine (@azov_media) March 15, 2025
Q: How strong is Russian electronic warfare? And how has it developed over the course of the war?
A: Well, I think that the power of any element of the Soviet army is not in the equipment's quality, but in the equipment's quantity. So the Russian electronic warfare has an undoubted advantage in terms of numbers, and this is especially true for the electronic warfare.
For example, they invent a countermeasure, they learn how to jam our control channel, and they quickly scale this decision, the solution, up. They quickly distribute that among their military. So then we change to another channel. We change to other frequencies, but when they find out how to channel those, they also scale this solution up. The same was true about our video transmission. So they learn how to create obstacles at the standard frequencies. Usually that's 5.8 [GHz] and they also learn how to introduce countermeasures to other systems of communication.
I would like to say that at the moment, Russian electronic warfare is undoubtedly one of the leading in the world. So I do not want to underestimate the enemy. We need to accept, to acknowledge, the level of the enemy.
Q: Can you tell me how else you're trying to improve your radio line of sight and beyond line of sight capabilities of your radio-controlled drones?
A: I can differentiate it into two parts. The first is dealing with radio shadow. And usually, as for me, the best way to deal with this problem is to launch repeaters and place them directly above the targets to be struck. For example, we use this tactic when we need to deploy our drones inside of buildings. When we send our drones towards a building, we actually land the repeater on top of the building, and then we deploy another drone. The picture was just perfect. The picture was very good because of that repeater placement.
As for your question regarding the line of sight, I think that's not really an issue of the line of sight, but about the transmission intensity. More and more drones are deployed, and more and more systems are used, and we are we're dealing with the problem that some frequencies are overloaded. We need to deal with these issues, and we need to experiment with the emitters and receivers in order to solve this problem, because both us and the enemy, we all will use more and more drones. And as for some ideas that are currently discussed – like the use of aerostats to install repeaters on – personally, I do not like this idea. It's not really efficient.
In the next installment of this interview, Yas talks about the unit's new SETH drone, the problem with thermite-spewing so-called dragon drones and why Azov doesn't use weapons-equipped ground drones.
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