Fiber optic drone
Uncrewed vehicle guided by an optical fiber
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A fiber optic drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), usually a first-person view (FPV) loitering munition, which uses an optical fiber as its primary guidance and teleoperation link. These drones usually have fiber optic cables between 5 and 20 km (3.1 and 12.4 mi) long, although prototypes with up to 50 km (31 mi) range have been developed.[1] They are impossible for defence forces to jam and very difficult to detect.[2]
History
In the early 2000’s, US military research agency DARPA developed an idea for a loitering munition controlled by fiber-optic cable under the Close Combat Lethal Recon program, but it was never fielded.[3]
During the Russo-Ukrainian war both Ukraine and Russia rely on electronic warfare to defeat radio-controlled FPV drones. Jammers are used on trenches and vehicles.[4] Pocket-size jammers for soldiers were also developed.[5]
Fiber optic FPV drones were first fielded by Russia in the spring of 2024 and by Ukraine soon after.[3][6][7] Maximum strike ranges have increased over time, with Russian fiber optic drones hitting areas of Kramatorsk more than 19 kilometres behind the front lines in October 2025.[8]
Lebanese armed group Hezbollah used fiber optic drones in the 2026 Lebanon war as part of the Hezbollah–Israel conflict.[9]
Characteristics
Advantages
- Immunity to jamming.[10]
- Higher data rates from the drone, even from locations where radio contact is poor, and the signal doesn't reveal operator's or drone's location by radio direction finding.[11][12]
- Needs less power to communicate, and so can be used to idle on the ground for ambushes.[13]
Disadvantages
- Reduced range, payload and maneuverability compared to wireless drones.[14][15]
- In practice, range and agility of the wired drones can be even higher than those of the radio-controlled ones, given their increased survivability and reduced control latency.[16]
- The fiber-optic cord can get tangled or even broken off.[17]
Countermeasures
To counter fiber-optic drones, as of 2025, Ukrainian soldiers deploy lines of stretched barbed wire, with a battery-driven motor that makes the barbed wire rotate around its axis. This has the effect of entangling and breaking the thin fiber-optic wire laid on the ground by fiber-optic drones along their flight path.[18]
Environmental concerns
The long trails of fiber optic cable left behind the drones on the battlefield may be a significant source of plastic pollution because most of the cables are made from synthetic polymers such as poly(methyl methacrylate) and fluoropolymers.[19][20]