this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2025
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At a secret workshop in Ukraine’s north-east, where about 20 people assemble hundreds of FPV (first person view) drones, there is a new design. Under the frame of the familiar quadcopter is a cylinder, the size of a forearm. Coiled up inside is fibre optic cable, 10km (6 miles) or even 20km long, to create a wired kamikaze drone.

Capt Yuriy Fedorenko, the commander of a specialist drone unit, the Achilles regiment, says fibre optic drones were an experimental response to battlefield jamming and rapidly took off late last year. With no radio connection, they cannot be jammed, are difficult to detect and able to fly in ways conventional FPV drones cannot.

“If pilots are experienced, they can fly these drones very low and between the trees in a forest or tree line. If you are flying with a regular drone, the trees block the signal unless you have a re-transmitter close,” he observes. Where tree lined supply roads were thought safer, fibre optic drones have been able to get through.

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[–] untakenusername@sh.itjust.works 9 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

this sounds so stupid but it might work

[–] SirActionSack@aussie.zone 2 points 56 minutes ago

Stupid like a TOW missle.

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago

Like torpedos used to do.

[–] GroundedGator@lemmy.world 20 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

Next evolution, carrier drones. Larger fiber drones that carry smaller radio drones and can also act as a repeater when needed.

[–] madsen@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

"Carrier has arrived."

[–] piecat@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago
[–] thatradomguy@lemmy.world 6 points 8 hours ago

Mankind invents their own problems.... fantastic... 🙄

[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 14 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

So basically we need a REALLY big wall

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Multiphasic drones capable of passing through solid material are next!

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

Ghost drones?

We need a militarized Pac Man drone.

[–] Ziggurat@jlai.lu 47 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

This kind of idea is between genius and stupid.

It's a cheap an easy solution to a lot of problem, and it sounds like the kind of proposal an intern would do

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 23 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

It's neither, they're spare wire reels for older tow missiles which were wired for the same reason.

[–] Ziggurat@jlai.lu 5 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

TIL thanks,

I heard about wired torpedo but didn't know it was also a thing for missiles

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 7 points 12 hours ago

Yep, still used in combat too and chances are you've seen a video and just didn't know.

Anytime you see a video filmed from behind a missile and it keeps making smingly random swirling jinking movements it's likely to be a tow missile.

https://youtu.be/IsOHo0oAc0c

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[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Sure, but a 20km attack radius in terms of something that can fly seems... Idk less than effective.

It would work for precision bombing nearby targets, but for long range strikes like Ukraine does, they need to be untethered.

But in those cases, i doubt they run remotely, rather they set a GPS destination and they use a combination of astral navigation and inertial navigation to hit their intended target, just like missiles.

Just much slower, smaller and lower flying missiles. Can't shoot what you can't see on radar.

[–] ChuckEffingNorris@lemmy.ml 4 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

They are generally tactical weapons, not strategic.

[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

And here my civvy ass is goin "wait they're different?"

[–] eRac@lemmings.world 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

When talking about attack drones, historically that has described an unmanned bomber that has significant range and strike capability. These are a strategic asset, operated far back from the front and making big-picture attacks. They replace cruise missiles and manned bombers.

The war in Ukraine has led to the first major deployment of tactical drones. These are relatively short range and operated in the field. Some are simply hobby drones rigged up to be able to drop a grenade, while others are flown straight into a target and explode. This article is talking about the latter, which is basically a replacement for anti-tank missiles.

When compared against a missile you have to have line of sight to guide to the target, a 20km range is a huge step up.

[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 1 points 3 hours ago

Oh. Dang yo, I didn't even think about out of sight anti-tanl. That's a huge step up. You're no longer looking down the barrel of a 130mm(idk) gun hoping your missile hits before they fire

[–] MBech@feddit.dk 33 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Drone manufacturer: "We're having trouble with our drones getting jammed, any ideas?"

Intern: "I always use CAT6 for my pc"

Drone manufacturer: "You goddamn genius!"

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 21 points 14 hours ago

Kids these days relying on wireless everything and don't realize the security and reliability of a wired connection.

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 26 points 17 hours ago (7 children)

This has been going on for a few months now. Why is this a "new threat" ?

There have even already been battlefield videos where you see tons of fibre optic in the air.

[–] goldfndr@lemmy.ml 1 points 33 minutes ago* (last edited 33 minutes ago)
[–] gnutrino@programming.dev 22 points 17 hours ago

On the scale of human warfare, "a few months" is pretty new. Frankly, its fairly new on the timescale of the Ukraine war at this point.

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[–] bassomitron@lemmy.world 50 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (32 children)

Wouldn't the fiber lead directly back to the pilot, though? You'd have to constantly be moving locations, otherwise they could just follow the wire.

Edit: I know, I know, the more I've thought about it--and despite them actually proving it's possible to do as mentioned in the article--it's just not very practical to do in many situations. As one commenter mentioned below, after seeing pictures of some trees, numerous drones create a web among trees/bushes/etc. So tracing lines when drones are launched from multiple locations would be extremely difficult and they could even set up ambushed at certain points if they saw enemy scouts doing it.

[–] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 hours ago

RR transmitters can be passively triangulated. Following the wire requires someone physically following the line back.

There are a lot of counter options and I'm sure they've thought of many. I can think of a couple with a few minutes of thought and it's not my life on the line.

If the line can be reeled out it can be reeled in.

They could use a smaller drone to send the end randomly elsewhere.

They could have the drone itself detach from the source and reel it towards itself before detonating.

[–] tux7350@lemmy.world 16 points 14 hours ago (6 children)

This is not new tech. We have been using wires like this in the battlefield since the 70's. I was a TOW gunner and shot plenty of missiles that have a wire like this drone. Except, ya know it's a missile and it moves significantly faster. TOW stands for Tube launched Opitically Wire guided missile.

Ask away if you wanna know anything about em.

[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Would you rather have had wire drones over your TOWs?

Or just knee replacements

[–] tux7350@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Already had the back replacement thank you very much lol

Edit: sorry to answer your question. Nope, ill take the missile. A drone coming at you is slow (in relation to a missile) and doesnt have a lot of explosives, other enemies will think they have a chance. You see a missile take someone out, I promise you, that you wont stick around to see it again.

[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 1 points 5 hours ago

Is that where the phrase "pink mist" comes from?

Yeah I probably wouldn't stick around either.

[–] Scolding7300@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

I'm guessing the wired break down quickly?

[–] tux7350@lemmy.world 5 points 8 hours ago

Naw, that shit was super strong. If you caught your boot and pulled it would slice clean into your boot. But it was fragile enough to be cut with scissors. A little thicker than a strand of hair.

[–] Speculater@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

Lol, I doubt it. I'm guessing 1,000-2,000 years.

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[–] Takapapatapaka@lemmy.world 35 points 19 hours ago

From the article :

There are examples of drone operators from earlier this year being able to trace the cables back to the positions from where they were launched and target the enemy crews. But if this technique was a successful one, fibre optic drones would have disappeared as soon as they appeared on the battlefield, when – from presidents to workshops – all the talk is of increasing numbers.

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