Fiber-Optic Drones: the Anti-Jamming Weapon Changing Ukraine Warfare
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Forbes
35 minutes ago
- Forbes
Ukraine's Upgraded Fiber Drones Are Deadlier At Longer Ranges
The REBOFF by 3DTech is an unjammable fiber optic FPV with a range of 20 kilometers/ 12 miles Less than eighteen months since the first prototypes appeared, drones controlled via fiber optic cable rather than radio have become a major weapon in Ukraine. Immune to jamming and able to go places where other drones cannot, fiber drones are almost impossible to stop. I talked to Oleksiy Zhulinskiy, CEO Ukraine's 3DTech about their work in this field, the challenges of flying fiber drones, Chinese sabotage, and the future. The Russians may have a head start in numbers, but 3DTech is ramping up production of superior designs. 'Now, our major challenge is scaling production to large volumes,' says Zhulinskiy. Steal From The Enemy, Then Improve The first Russian fiber FPVs appeared in early 2024. Many were skeptical whether fiber optic cables were strong enough for battlefield conditions. Ukrainian drone expert Serhii Flash thought fiber drones would likely be limited to very short ranges. But when they turned out to be effective weapons, the Ukrainians set about learning from their enemies. 'Field-captured enemy prototypes from summer 2024 inspired ours,' says Zhulinskiy. Spool dispnesers are now more aerodynamic and reliablew 3DTech started by replacing the heavy frames used by the Russians with lightweight carbon ones. With the additional weight of the spool, every ounce matters. Improving balance was also an issue. 'Designing a fiber‑optic drone required careful weight distribution,' says Zhulinskiy. 'We mount a spool with a certain length of fiber, but as it unspools and gets lighter, we must account for that in component placement.' Initially, like the Russians, 3DTech used commercial Chinese spools. But they found they could make better ones themselves. 'The spool has evolved: aerodynamic housing to reduce drag, fiber-unspooling channel with a polished metal tip to reduce friction and static,' says Zhulinskiy. 3DTech now have their own spool-winding machines to avoid issues with spools from foreign suppliers Making their own spools had another big advantage. Reports from the field said that some of the Chinese versions failed when the drones were launched. Worse, this may not have been accidental. 'Recently, Chinese spools often break halfway through the intended length,' says Zhulinskiy. 'Possibly, though we cannot confirm this, this is deliberate sabotage from our Chinese partners.' This concern has been echoed by other fiber drone users complaining that up to half the Chinese fiber cables snapped in flight. To avoid such problems, 3DTech now wind their own fiber spools, with a standardized design used on different drone types which can also be retrofitted to radio-control FPVs. The company has switched to lightweight 0.25mm fiber (G657A2 ) rather than the earlier .5mm. 3DTech are constantly seeking to improve fiber quality and testing new types 'Fiber thickness doesn't influence breakage. Our 0.25 mm fiber spools perform better than Chinese 0.5 mm ones,' says Zhulinskiy. 'New fiber types are emerging, offering better flexibility and less break risk. We are testing various fibers to choose the most effective. We still rely on imports for raw fiber— but we have local winding lines and spool housing manufacturing. So our spool is almost fully localized. We're working to diversify raw material suppliers to avoid dependency on any single country or supplier.' 3DTech upgraded other elements including the ground controller. The result, with better spools, aerodynamics and fiber might be described as a next-generation fiber drone. Better Flying By Fiber There are many myths about the flight limitations of fiber drones, but Zhulinskiy says that in truth pilots have had little difficulty adapting to them. 'Maneuvers like acceleration, deceleration, diving, spinning, hovering, and landing are all possible,' says Zhulinskiy. 'However, pilots must carefully plan the route to avoid crossing the unspooling path, and ensure the cable isn't severed by vehicles, infantry, or other drones.' In some ways fiber makes piloting easier. Pilots of radio controlled FPVs have to maintain altitude because dipping below the radio horizon can cause the signal to be lost. Obstacles like trees and buildings also affect radio waves, but fiber drones can maintain a perfect signal. They can travel inside buildings and down pipes and tunnels in search of targets, or even down trenches. 'Fiber optic communication lets drones operate in environments where radio signals don't penetrate—lowlands, enclosed spaces. On the battlefield, this has shown great effectiveness: we have many confirmed targets in closed spaces, bunkers, or areas with poor radio visibility like dense forests,' says Zhulinskiy. Being able to go low has another big advantage. 'Flying close to the ground allows these drones to be used for ambush-style tactics, targeting logistical lines in the near and mid rear.' There are many videos of ambush drones picking off Russian transport vehicles racing to get supplies to the front line. 'They sit in the grass and take off,' warns one Russian blogger. 'So many guys die from these waiting ones. This has never happened before.' Further And Further Most fiber drones have a spool length of 20 kilometers maximum. 3DTech aim to go further. 'Designing a drone capable of long-distance missions – twenty plus kilometers -- is a serious challenge. We found that not all media converters could transmit signals that far,' says Zhulinskiy. 'We also need higher-quality batteries. This requires optimizing spool weight and developing efficient motor/propeller systems for energy efficiency and payload lift.' Technology was not the only problem. The military bureaucracy had trouble dealing with this new weapon., 'Unfortunately, the state didn't understand how to codify them—there was no testing methodology for this kind of drone. Our efforts from autumn through winter 2025 focused on creating this methodology.' 3DTech's specialists joined with the Ministry of Defense and other agencies to help develop testing and procedures for certifying the drones as suitable for service. And now things are moving. 'We have five NATO-codified models rated for 10–20 km range, and two more up to 30 km pending codification,' says Zhulinskiy. And that is unlikely to be the last word. 40-kilometer fiber drones are feasible, though these are likely to be fixed-wing rather than quadcopter. Other improvements are in the pipeline. At present 3DTech use standard low-resolution cameras, but the higher bandwidth provided by fiber means it can carry higher resolutions. This would enable the operator to spot targets at longer ranges and see finer detail – for example netting strung up to stop drones. Ukraine's fiber drone are already more reliable, more efficient and can hit targets at longer ranges that their Russian counterparts. Zhulinskiy estimates that around 10% of Ukrainian drones are currently fiber, a figure which is rising fast. 'Our goal is to scale up production to at least 10,000 drones per month and make the products as cheap and effective as possible, giving the military abundant, efficient tools for many missions,' says Zhulinskiy. According to Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, 15 Ukrainian manufacturers are making fiber drones, with another 20 companies producing components. This diversity allows new designs to flourish and spread. And a recent law cuts aims to help the business by cutting taxes on fiber drone components. Russia may have introduced the world to fiber drones. But the original developer does not always have the last word and this looks like a field where Ukraine can dominate.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Chinese engines, shipped as 'cooling units', power Russian drones used in Ukraine
(Reuters) -Chinese-made engines are being covertly shipped via front companies to a state-owned drone manufacturer in Russia, labelled as "industrial refrigeration units" to avoid detection in the wake of Western sanctions, according to three European security officials and documents reviewed by Reuters. The shipments have allowed Russian weapons-maker IEMZ Kupol to increase its production of the Garpiya-A1 attack drone, despite the U.S. and E.U. sanctions imposed in October designed to disrupt its supply chain, according to the sources and documents, which included contracts, invoices and customs paperwork. An internal Kupol document, reviewed by Reuters, showed it signed a contract with the Russian defence ministry to produce more than 6,000 Garpiya this year, up from 2,000 in 2024. The document stated that more than 1,500 drones had already been delivered by April. The long-range drone is being deployed to attack civilian and military targets deep within Ukrainian territory, with around 500 being used by Russia per month, the Ukrainian military intelligence agency said in a statement to Reuters. The European security officials asked that neither they nor their organisation be identified due to the sensitivity of the information. They also requested some specific details in the documents be withheld, such as their dates and the cost of contracts. In September, Reuters reported that Kupol was producing the Garpiya using Chinese technology, including L550E engines made by Xiamen Limbach Aviation Engine Co. A month after the Reuters' report, the European Union and the U.S. sanctioned several companies involved in producing the drones, including Xiamen. In the wake of the sanctions, a new Chinese firm called Beijing Xichao International Technology and Trade has started supplying the L550E engines to Kupol, according to invoices, a Kupol internal letter and transportation documents reviewed by Reuters. The increase in production of Garpiya as well as the new intermediaries supplying parts for the drones are reported by Reuters for the first time. The news agency could not determine how Xichao obtained the engines from the maker Xiamen Limbach. Xiamen Limbach did not respond to a request for comment and Reuters was unable to reach Xichao. IEMZ Kupol, Russia's trade and industry ministry and the defence ministry also did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement to Reuters, China's foreign ministry said it was unaware of the export of parts for the Garpiya and it has controlled foreign sales of dual-use goods in line with China's own laws and international obligations. "China has always opposed unilateral sanctions that lack basis in international law and are not authorized by the U.N. Security Council," the statement said. The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Both the U.S. and E.U. have repeatedly imposed sanctions on companies in third-party countries, including China, alleged to have provided dual-use technology to Russia. Kupol has been sanctioned since December 2022 by the EU and December 2023 by the U.S. for its involvement in Russia's defence sector. DIPLOMATIC WARNINGS European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is due to travel to China for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang on Thursday, amid tensions over Beijing's support for Russia's war effort. The European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 2 that Chinese firms' support for Russia in the war posed a threat to European security and she urged China to cease trade that sustains Russia's military machine, the EU said in a statement. Meia Nouwens, senior fellow for Chinese security and defence policy at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), said China's prime concern was to help sustain Russia's war effort to ensure the United States remained focused on Ukraine. "This does not help China and Europe come closer together, diplomatically," she said. China says it imposes strict controls on the export of drones and their parts and has never provided either side of the war in Ukraine with lethal weapons. A person familiar with Beijing's thinking on the issue said that China produces around 75% of world's drones, with the majority not for military purposes; if Russia was using them as weapons, then the same was also true of Ukraine, the person added. Ahead of Thursday's summit, one European official said the EU was not asking China to cut economic ties with Russia but to strengthen customs and financial controls to reduce the flow of specific dual-use goods. The Garpiya, which means harpy in Russian, is based on the Iranian-made Shahed drones but relies on Chinese technology, the three European sources said. The Ukrainian military intelligence agency said the Chinese-made components in the drone included the engine, control systems, and navigation equipment. The engines were shipped by Xichao to a Russian front company identified as SMP-138, which then forwarded them to a second Russian firm LIBSS, according to another internal Kupol document, seen by Reuters. Abram Goldman, registered as the owner of SMP-138, did not respond to an emailed request for comment. LIBSS also did not respond to Reuters' questions. A contract for LIBSS to supply Kupol with the engines, reviewed by Reuters, stated they would be described as cooling units in shipping documents because of their sensitivity. The delivery route was from Beijing to Moscow then to Izhevsk, where Kupol has manufacturing facilities. Describing them as cooling units allowed the goods to be exported to Russia without alerting Chinese authorities, the three security officials said. Transportation documents reviewed by Reuters showed that Sichuan Airlines and China Southern Airlines, China's largest carrier, had transported components for the drones to sanctioned Russian companies since October. China Southern did not respond to Reuters' questions and Sichuan could not be reached for comment. (Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris, Andrew Gray in Brussels, Tom Balmforth in Kyiv, Qiaoyi Li in Beijing; Editing by Daniel Flynn) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fox News
14 hours ago
- Fox News
Drone expert highlights national security risks amid changing technology in Congressional testimony
DroneUp CEO Tom Walker speaks with Fox News Digital about his Congressional testimony calling for a nationalized database of drone pilots and flights amid changing technology, while warning the country's airspace regulations are unprepared.
