Russian fiber-optic drone: innovation that breaks through radio jamming

When Kalashnikov subsidiary ZALA proudly showed off its new "Product 55" quadcopter, the company claimed that its drone was resistant to all radio jamming. signal jammerThis technology heralded a new breakthrough in the autonomy of ZALA's drone technology. GPS jammer However, recently, Ukrainian military blogger Serhii "Flash" reported a new Russian FPV (first-person view) attack drone technology that uses a completely different solution to radio jamming: it communicates with the operator through fiber-optic cables instead of wireless signals.cell phone jammer

The amazing discovery of the fiber-optic drone

Serhii "Flash" first revealed this strange drone design on his blog on March 2.Wifi jammer In addition to carrying the usual warhead, the drone is equipped with a hollow plastic egg with a roll of fiber-optic cable inside. The cable is an astonishing 10,813 meters (6.7 miles) long and is connected to a commercial high-speed optical communication transceiver made in China. Flash's discovery has attracted widespread attention in the military community and has caused deep thinking about this technology.

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Technology Reality and Challenges

Flash was surprised by the discovery, but not entirely unexpected. “At the Department of Defense hackathon, we had discussed applying fiber optic technology to drones, but people were skeptical about its practical operation,” he recalled. “It was a real challenge for a drone to be able to unroll a 10-kilometer roll of fiber optic fiber in flight without breaking it.”

The implementation of this technology has sparked widespread discussion on the Internet, with many people skeptical about its effectiveness. However, this fiber-guided drone control method is not new. As early as the early 2000s, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) developed similar technology for use in close combat environments.

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History of fiber optic drone control technology

 

DARPA developed a handheld, tube-launched fiber-optic guided loitering munition under its Close Combat Lethal Reconnaissance program. This munition is suitable for single-soldier attacks on non-line-of-sight (NLOS) targets in urban environments. Although the fiber optic link was eventually replaced by radio control, the core concept of the technology still exists. The SwitchBlade 300 loitering munition manufactured by AeroVironment continues to embody the development trajectory of this technology during its use in Ukraine.


Posted Aug 29 2024, 03:32 AM by jammerspecialist