Ukraine's head of Defence Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov has revealed the intricacies of drone warfare and how one Russian weapon is giving Ukraine nightmares.
According to Budanov, the weapon that Ukrainians have no way to stop is Russia's fibre-optic drones. "We were winning the drone war. But, the Russians have started using fibre-optic FPV drones on a large scale. This is a huge problem for us because it is impossible to stop them with electronic warfare. This is the know-how and trend of this year. Next year, we will all work together to find a technological solution to deal with the huge number of such devices," he told a Ukrainian television.
🇷🇺🇺🇦 Russian fiber optic FPV drones struck a Ukranian 2S1 SPG in Kursk. pic.twitter.com/3I9A3Nd5WG
— Heyman_101 (@SU_57R) December 4, 2024
Ukrop films a Russian fiber optic FPV drone searching their position looking for a target. pic.twitter.com/LKZgMBjBpl
— Blackrussian (@Blackrussiantv) December 11, 2024
It was in March that Ukrainian military got to know about a new type of Russian FPV Kamikaze drone. Ukrainian military blogger Serhii 'Flash' reported a strange new type of drone which carried a hollow plastic egg containing unidentifiable equipment. These drones are equipped with a unique control system powered by a fibre optic cable that connects the drone to its operator. The fact that it opted away from traditional wireless radio frequencies also made it immune to jammers. Traditional drones, which rely on GPS and RF signals, can easily be disabled by electronic warfare tactics such as jamming.
Interestingly, the FPV drone is not a product of a military lab, but of one of the many small Russian outfits working on drone developments using commercial components.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has seen a new trend; of drone warfare. So much so that the feeds from these drones get intertwined, leaving the owners struggling to sort out which ones are their drones and which belong to the enemy.
This helps operators on one side of the battlefield see the feed of the other side's drone. A drone operator in Ukraine told Business Inside that being able to see Russian drone feeds is "useful because you see where the enemy drone that wants to destroy you is flying."
Russia is also ramping up domestic production capabilities of Iranian-designed Shahed drones, according to a new assessment by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Ukraine too is not far behind and is developing new drone technology. Recently, Ukraine's Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) claimed that it destroyed a Russian Mi-8 helicopter using the R-73 "Sea Dragon" missiles launched from a Magura V5 naval strike drone in the Black Sea.