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| Science & Technology | |
| Detecting Fiberoptic Drones on the Battlefield - Techniques | |
| 2025-06-20 | |
| [TomCooperSarcastosaurus] Expect every truck, tank, and vehicle to look like the mast of a naval ship in the near future. NOTE: Below is a practical analysis about how to defend against fiber optic drones. I won’t bury the lede. Defense against any and all small-cheap-drone is based on first seeing/sensing it. It’s all about the sensors. There is no new tech here. We have everything we need to sense a drone in enough time to shoot it down. As with everything, is it scalable? Yes. I think so. Is there something on the market now? No, but many systems are being tested. There are many systems for shooting down cruise missiles and Shaheds. But nothing yet that is modular for good point and convoy defense vs small-cheap-drones. Why don't we already have this on the battlefield? EW has, until now, worked very well. Fiber drones changed this. On today’s battlefields, fiber-optic guided drones present one of the most difficult detection challenges faced by defenders. These drones don’t emit radio-frequency signals, making them invisible to standard electronic warfare systems that rely on RF detection and jamming. Controlled via an ultra-thin tethered cable, they fly low, use terrain for cover, and exploit gaps in conventional sensor systems. Both Ukraine and Russia have deployed these “unjammable” drones for reconnaissance and precision strikes. Detecting fiber-optic drones requires a layered approach. No single sensor can cover all the weaknesses these drones exploit. The solution lies in combining acoustic, radar, and optical sensors into a single fusion system. Each sensor type has its strengths and weaknesses, but together they can compensate for each other and create a viable detection umbrella.
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| Posted by:Clem+Elmish4239 |