Fiber Optic Drones: New Weapon in Ukraine War | L’Express

The image, taken in early April, talks about itself. On an agricultural land, located not far from the fighting, several cables, as fine as a fishing wire, appear on the screen thanks to the reflections of the sun. “The Ukrainian fields close to the front line are filled with optical fiber,” comments the Ukrainian soldier who took the photo before sharing it on social networks. On another cliché, he shows his hand, twisted in at least six of them. For several months, snapshots of this type have multiplied online, testifying to the rapid emergence of a new weapon: the fiber optic drone.

Almost non -existent at the start of the conflict, these devices have seen their use explode on the front in recent months. “Unlike conventional drones linked to their operator thanks to radio waves, these aircraft use an optical fiber coil which takes place as they advance, details Yohann Michel, in charge of studies at the Institute of Strategy Studies and Defense (IESD). This innovation allows them to be insensitive to electromagnetic waves usually used to combat drones.

The generalization of the use of FPV drones (first person viewor in French “subjective view”), piloted by an operator connected to an on -board camera, has gradually led Russian and Ukrainian to massively use shock systems, in order to parasitize the radio frequency allowing to control them remotely – and make the machines inoperative. The objective of fiber optic cables: to thwart this defense to maximize the chances of success of each attack, while 60 to 80 % of classic drones fail to reach their target according to a study by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) published in February.

“It’s a huge problem for us”

However, this is not the only advantage of this new type of drone. “Until now, electronic war systems also made it possible to locate the nearby drones by detecting the signal they emit, points Xavier Tytelman, former military aviator and aeronautical expert. This is no longer possible with fiber optic drones: they are only marked at the last moment with the noise of their propellers when they approach their target.”

At a time when the omnipresence of drones has made this weapon the first cause of human losses on the battlefield, this gain of stealth further increases its destructive potential. In early April, Colonel Roman Kostenko, Ukrainian secretary of the National Defense and Intelligence Parliamentary Committee, said that in 2024, 65 % of Russian soldiers killed on the front had been by drone attacks. A percentage that rises to 75 % with regard to material losses. In the absence of an effective means of fiber optical drones, this ratio could still climb in the coming months.

The fact remains that the Russians, who were the first to resort to this new weapon just under a year ago, took ahead in this area. “This is a huge problem for us, alerted Kyrylo Boudanov, the Ukrainian military intelligence leader on December 31. This is the know-how and trend of this year.” Russian troops notably used it in their reconquest of the Koursk region, where the Ukrainians had taken a stand last summer.

“The Ukrainian forces present in the sector were massively endowed with scrambling systems to protect themselves from conventional drones. The Russians have therefore intensified their use of fiber optic drones on this front, retraces Xavier Tytelman. This has clearly contributed to Ukrainian losses in the area.” Today, Moscow has almost completed the reconquest of its territory. On April 19, the chief of staff of the Russian army, Valeri Guerassimov, claimed to have resumed “99.5 %”.

Priority objective

However, this new technology also has its limits. The price of each machine is thus more expensive than conventional drones, to which must be added the price of the coil whose cost can range, depending on its length, between 200 and almost 1000 dollars. Likewise, this physical cable attached to the drone can make him lose part of his velocity. “Its payload will be less important because of the weight of the coil, and it will also be less maneuverable because of the risk that the cable gets into trees or rubble,” says Xavier Tytelman.

The fight against these new weapons is nonetheless a priority objective of kyiv. A sign of its importance, several long -range drones – in all likelihood of Ukrainian – hit the main Russian fiber manufacturing plant on April 5 located in Saransk, some 650 kilometers from the Ukrainian front. Two days later, Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that it wanted to build up the Ukrainian capacities in fiber optic drones and “reach the highest possible level of production and delivery”. Several new models have already seen this year, one of them, one of them, tested life -size in early April, capable of covering a distance of more than 20 kilometers.

More than three years after the start of the conflict, the boom in fiber optic drones is only a new example of how technologies are adapting to the new needs of war. “We are witnessing a form of race: FPV drones have increased the lethality of the battlefield and in response there was a large development of electronic war systems to protect themselves from it, abounds Yohann Michel. This same process will now have to be set up to find new solutions for interception and detection of fiber optic drones.” A major issue, for Moscow as for kyiv.