In the devastated fields of Ukraine, a new web of fiber optic wires is rewriting the rules of modern war
Throughout the more than a thousand kilometers of the front line in Ukraine, something is changing in the landscape of the terrain that separates the Russian forces from the Ukrainian. A tangle with thousands of cables of several kilometers, which resemble spider webs, is covering the ground of the fields. Thousands of new wires arise every day, the result of one of the deadliest Russian technological developments that emerged in the invasion of Ukraine. Immunes to electronic war and almost impossible to detect, the Kamikaze -controlled Kamikaze drones with fiber optic cables are changing the war, the landscape and Ukraine is running to try to recover the damage.
Six months are an eternity for the speed of military innovation to two countries at war. The beginning of the Russian invasion, which began with huge columns of Russian armor advanced on the ground supported by airplanes and helicopters and quickly gave way to an intense war of trenches, triggered a race for technological supremacy. At material disadvantage, Ukraine found in the first months of war the solution to many of its problems in unmanned aircraft we call drones. In 2023, dozens of workshops began producing thousands of drones a month that arrived in a few hours to the front line units.
The tinnitus of a small FPV (First-Person-View) drone loaded with explosives has become the main fear of tens of thousands of men and women who fought on the front line. The drones and their pilots became exceptionally accurate and the number of casualties on the Russian side fired. Kiev forces have specialized in the production and use of this type of unmanned aircraft, developing various types with different functions, but also learning new tactics and ways to use them. Currently, 80% of all Russian casualties on the battlefield are the result of drone attacks.
Ukrainian fields covered with fiber optic cables show the intensity with which attacks occur on the front line.
Moscow began the invasion with severe scarcity of this technology. Kremlin tried to shorten terrain with Tehran’s help, obtaining a license to produce Long -range Drones Shahed. But the gap continues to exist in other categories that dominated the front line, such as FPV drones or recognition, such as Portuguese Tekever. In response, Moscow developed some of the most powerful electronic weapons, capable of disturbing the signs of aircraft, render them. Kiev tried to do the same, but the dimension of Ukrainian production, which made 1.5 million drones in 2024, was enough to continue the high number of casualties.
But in 2024, something changed. Russia began to try something different in its drones. The Russian military has incorporated a small tube with a multi -kilometer -long fiber optic cable that connects the aircraft to its operator. As they fly, these low altitudes drones unfold the highly resistant cable as they move away from the pilot.
The existence of a physics between the drone and the operator solves one of the main problems this type of weapons found on the battlefield, where many of them lose their contact with the pilot after being the target of electronic war measures. This technology also allows aircraft to be able to access areas that were previously inaccessible to FPV drones because they lost the signal, such as forests or between buildings. For the military, this means that the front areas that were previously safe may now be under enemy fire.
But the differences are not only due to the quality of the sign between the drone and the operator. The optical fiber allows the pilot to receive a high quality image until the explosive detonation, even long distances. Fiber optic cables are quite resistant, cheap and lightweight, allowing drones to carry cartridges with dozens of kilometers of wires with just a few pounds. On social networks, a user shows a deposit with 50 kilometers of fiber optic cable with only 3.8 pounds.
🤬 Chinese man demonstrates a 50 km fiber optic coil, custom-made for the Russians. The coil weighs only 3.8 kg.
– max 25 🇺🇦👀 (@maks_nafo_fella)
Despite the reduced weight that allows you to travel long distances, this extra load has disadvantages. FPV drones have a limited load capacity and the extra weight requires reducing the amount of explosives on board. These characteristics force these drones to have larger structures, with more powerful engines and batteries, but resulting in a slower and less maneuverable device, which can make it more vulnerable to shy with slight weapons. In addition, long fiber optical lines risk being trapped in some object or simply curling.
When they reach the target or are destroyed, the fiber optic cable that connects the drone to the operator is lying on the floor. As these cables accumulate in the fields and cities, they are beginning to become visible and reflect the sunlight, allowing the military to identify the original position of its operator. This forces soldiers to change positions frequently, in a constant cat and rat game.
Both Ukraine and Russia are doing a little of everything to try to find a way to counteract this technology, but to no avail. One, for example, tried to find a way to detect the fiber optic cable through the infrared spectrum, making cables visible to drones with night vision or infrared equipment. But investigators say this discovery will not have great use on the battlefield, since it is only possible at night and the most common chambers used in front cannot do so.
Fiber optic cable remains in the rubble of a building attacked in eastern Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk. (Getty Images)
Until then, this type of drones is getting big hits on the battlefield. In Kursk, where Ukraine launched an offensive in the summer of 2024, they were fundamental to the Russian counterattack that eventually expelled the forces of General Oleksandr Syrskyi in March 2025. Vacancy after a vacancy, dozens of fiber optic cables attacked the Ukrainian forces, who could do little against these attacks. In the last months of the offensive, the front line supply was virtually impossible and the Russian military reached everything that stirred the Ukrainian rear.
“Our logistics collapsed. Fiber optic drones monitor all routes, with no way of delivering ammunition or provisions,” Dmytro, a Ukrainian doctor who fought from the Russian city of Sudzha, told Kyiv Independent.
The same is happening in various parts of the front, where the Ukrainian military is reporting a significant increase in the attacks against vehicles in the rear, linked to an increase in the activity of this type of drones in the front of combat. In the Toretsk region, a soldier reported that his brigade was left without any medical evacuation vehicle in just one month.
Ukraine, which has a robust drone industry, is trying to adapt and run after the damage to catch the Russian abilities. For this, Ukrainian manufacturers only need to acquire large amounts of quality fiber optic wires, are produced by China and sold on Aliexpress. But Beijing’s proximity to Kremlin makes many of the producers want to distance themselves and diversify their suppliers.
But although drones are considered cheap, this technology triggers the price of a drone to almost double. According to an analysis of Ukrinform in March, the price of drone fiber optic cable approaches the thousand euros per unit. The drone costs between 300 and 600 euros without explosives. Made the math, the price of these drones with a 25 -kilometer wire can reach the two thousand euros. The value is far higher than the current FPV drones, but the effectiveness of these weapons seems to justify the transition.
But, for now, the use of these drones is restricted to Ukrainian elite units, such as Achilles Regiment or the Azov Battalion Drone Unit. But everyone knows that this year all eyes will be put in this technology, which should reach an increasing number of Ukrainian units. Until then, the advantage remains in the hands of the Russian forces, which are increasing the intensity of the attacks all the way. In any case, the tangle of wires will continue to cover the Ukrainian fields, silent witnesses of a war that technology does not stop changing.
