INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
with hide-and-seek videos as Ukrainian drone pilots use their new ability to go inside buildings to hunt Russian vehicles.The non-toxic
fibers may not harm birds, but they signal extreme danger to humans
Fly too low, or behind a hill and the connection may be lost
Jammers give imperfect protection against FPVs, but many rely on them.The very first fiber drones only had a range of a few kilometers, but
this has steadily increased
Drones with 10-15 km of cable are now common
Much greater ranges are possible
models with a reduced bombload
lands and waits for a target
Previously in such attacks the ambusher lay dormant to save batteries, waiting for a signal from a scout drone that a target was approaching
But because fiber drones require less power to maintain communication over long range, they can lurk by a track or road for an extended
Uncrewed vehicles with more FPVs could stage miniature Operation Spiderweb attacks of their own.
Countering Fiber Drones
At present there
are no good countermeasures against fiber drones.Netting may catch a drone before it reaches its target, but the smallest gap can be fatal
The videos above show that no building is secure against fiber drones unless all the possible entry points are covered.People often suggest
tracking the fiber cable back to the operator, but as the images of fields covered in cables show, this is now virtually impossible.Cutting
However, it is not clear that this is what the video actually shows, and in any case, this seems to have been a one-off
Detecting a fiber drone as it comes in at high speed, getting behind it, locating the cable and cutting it are all challenging.
Quite likely
we will start to see dogfights between fiber FPVs and interceptors
These engagements will need to be automated because of the speeds involved.The numbers of fiber drones on both sides are increasing fast,
and work on counters continues
Nobody yet knows how long the fiber drone summer will last, or what could bring it to an end.Source: Forbes
