Fiber optic drone


A fiber optic drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, usually a first-person view loitering munition, which uses an optical fiber as its primary guidance and teleoperation link. These drones usually have fiber optic cables between long, although prototypes with up to range have been developed. They are impossible for defence forces to jam and very difficult to detect.

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.
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. Pocket-size jammers for soldiers were also developed.
Fiber optic FPV drones were first fielded by Russia in the spring of 2024 and by Ukraine soon after. 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.

Characteristics

Advantages

  • Immunity to jamming.
  • 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.
  • Needs less power to communicate, and so can be used to idle on the ground for ambushes.

    Disadvantages

  • Reduced range, payload and maneuverability compared to wireless drones.
  • * 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.
  • The fiber-optic cord can get tangled or even broken off.

    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.

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 and fluoropolymers.