Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines have reported increasing attacks from a new menace – attack drones running on fibre-optic cables that are resistant to electronic jamming.
The devices were first seen in experimental form last year and their use has swiftly multiplied, reportedly playing a key role in Russia’s defence against a Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region last week, with soldiers forced to try to shoot them down with shotguns.
While the majority of drones that have dominated the skies over Ukraine are piloted with the use of radio waves to transmit visuals, the new models stay attached to a fibre-optic wire that can extend for more than 10km while supplying a higher quality feed to the operator, and remaining immune to jamming systems.
Ukraine’s defence ministry expressed concern in a statement earlier this month that also announced tests of their own cable drones. “The enemy continues to increase its capabilities in the use of drone control technologies via fibre optics, so it is extremely necessary to level its advantages,” the release stated.
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, described Russia’s use of the drones as “a huge problem for us.”
The innovation could allow one side to break the deadlock at a time when both have mastered the use of existing drones and deployed them in vast numbers across the front, as well as electronic warfare countermeasures, suggests Colonel Markus Reisner, who studies Russia’s armed forces at the Theresian Military Academy in Austria.
“This development makes the difference on the battlefield at the moment,” he told The i paper. “At the moment the side that dominates the electromagnetic field is dominant – wire-controlled drones are an attempt to go back into asymmetry and to gain momentum again.”
Many existing drone models have become increasingly vulnerable to electronic jamming (Photo: Pablo Miranzo/Getty)The technology has already proven its value in battle and both sides are racing to develop cable models, said Samuel Bendett, a drone researcher at the Centre for a New American Security think tank.
“Both sides are investing in this capability to bypass electronic warfare and jamming,” he said, noting that one of the key challenges is “developing a balance between long range, which normally means a heavier spool that weigh down the drone, and the ability of fibre-optic drones to be faster and more manoeuvrable.”
The new drones are likely to play a growing role in the war, Bendett believes, although he predicts they will be used in concert with existing models rather than replacing them.
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Read More“Fibre-optic drones can attack electronic warfare and jamming and other counter-drone systems, clearing the way for radio-controlled drones to conduct follow-on attacks,” he said.
Mykola Bielieskov, a Ukrainian military analyst at the government-run National Institute for Strategic Studies, said the new drones are also effective in targeting enemy personnel and equipment, but the wire-based system can be disrupted by “natural and artificial obstacles.”
But with the increasing vulnerability of radio-controlled drones to jamming, there is an urgent need for new systems, and Bielieskov is confident Ukraine will soon be able to match Russian capabilities.
“Russia has been a leader in this for some time. But we are racing to catch up and soon we will,” he said.
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