Ukraine is using fiber optic drones in increasingly deceptive ways, relying on their resistance to electronic warfare and close-range video feeds to scout Russian positions, study bunkers and dugouts and create unusual openings for attacks, a soldier said.
These jam-resistant drones have been on the battlefield for more than two years and have become an important tool for both sides, allowing troops to surveil and attack without their drones being brought down by electronic warfare.
Dmytro “Liber” Zhluktenko, a former drone operator who is now an analyst with Ukraine’s 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment “RAID,” told Business Insider that Ukrainian operators are increasingly using fiber optic drones in atypical ways – such as deception and ambush – to “create tons of chaos.”
He said some operators let their drones play dead or purposefully lurk on the battlefield, exploding at just the right moment to kill an approaching soldier or expose a protected enemy position rather than simply flying directly at a target and detonating on impact.
He said fiber optic drones are also useful for studying Russian bunkers and dugouts because they can take high quality video of “all the entrances, because you get the perfect footage, you can literally find out what kind of coverage they have coming into their dugout, and what you need to do to open it.”
Short-range reconnaissance is one of the drone’s best uses, Zhluktenko said. Before drone operators hit Russian dugouts and bunkers, they can gather “very good information” and “very accurate information from very close range.”
While they can be used to pursue and attack, he said, there are limitations that make them less than ideal for those missions. These drones, which are connected to the operator via a thin data cable, are slower than the untethered FPV drones, and the fiber optic cables can “break down quite easily if you just give it full throttle.”
Fiber optic drones send pilot commands and video feeds over a physical cable instead of radio frequency links, which can be interfered with by electronic warfare. The cable is fragile and can break if it gets stuck on trees or obstacles. Some soldiers carry scissors to cut any cables they come across.
Fiber optic drones are relatively new to the battlefield, but tactics have changed. Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images
A U.S. veteran who fought for Ukraine told Business Insider on condition of anonymity that there are “very easy ways to take them down,” including cutting their wires.
“In winter,” he said, “the cold will break them half the time.” Yet these systems are considered necessary given the major threat of electronic warfare.
Zhluktenko said the cable became more expensive, which limited the use of the drones. He said Ukraine was looking at other ways to get the same stable connection, including using loads of signal boosters to keep radio links online, but fiber optic drones remain in use.
The deception and ambush tactics Zhluktenko described are part of a growing trend on both sides of this war.
A British doctor working in Ukraine who spoke to Business Insider on condition of anonymity said Russia is placing drones in positions for ambushes.
Russian drones, she said, will “basically sit in the grass or on the roadsides, and a group of soldiers will go by or drive past them, and these things will literally activate and almost jump out of nowhere and strike.”
“We have this image of flying drones“They can be silent and treacherous, and one minute you’re, shall I say, walking along a tree line, the next minute you hear the noise, and then we see an explosion, and it’s just so incredibly fast. And because they are so fast, it often goes far beyond your reflexes to actually respond.”
Another American veteran who fought in Ukraine told Business Insider that Russian soldiers will use “landmine tactics,” where they place the drone next to a road and leave it there, waiting for a vehicle or other target to approach.
Ukrainians have also drawn attention to these tactics. Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, then a drone warfare adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said last year that Russia was using fiber optic drones for “ambush” tactics, including waiting for targets along roads.
“This is one of the tactics involving fiber optic drones,” he said. “It’s effective and causes a lot of problems.” Russia is too using solar powered drones that may lie dormant before this tactic.
“The drones are hiding on roads and intersections,” Beskrestnov said. “They are often placed on forest trails, waiting for a target. When they see a vehicle, they take off and strike quickly, leaving little time to react.”
