this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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Itβs initially a cool idea, but donβt the fiber optic lines give away the location of the drone operator? Or, at least where the drones are stored?
Sure, you hope out there in the open, you can follow them back to where they took off. And if you manage not to get spotted by a drone and blown up, you get to try killing the enemy in their tranches.
You know, just a casual, stress-free, totally low-risk Sunday stroll.
I think even a drone can follow the lines from reflections in the sunlight. Then, find where they converge and send in artillery, an air strike, or a drone strike.
Not from what I have read. They are only a couple of millimeters thick and a single strand can be hard to spot and follow on foot especially when it's hanging off of trees and the like. I doubt you are seeing a tiny strand like that through fpv drone goggles. Could be wrong though.
What I do know is that Ukraine is using them and I'm inclined to believe they wouldn't use something that wasn't worth it for very long.
You can see an example here: https://old.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/1irsodi/the_ghost_of_khortytsia_battalion_of_the_karadag/
When there are lots of cables going in one direction, you can follow them as they reflect sunlight. I imagine the closer to the drone storage, the more prevalent all the fiber optic cables will be.
Not even that, looking online the cable is only 0.5mm thick.
I've seen some videos that show clearly how the cables reflect sunlight and become easy to see. You can see it in this video as well if you watch around 7 seconds and look towards the sun: You'll see a bunch of strands in the background that are only visible due to the reflected sunlight.
There's a difference between able to see a section of fibre and being able to follow it miles back to the operator.
Absolutely! My point was only that they can, in the right conditions, be very easy to spot. I've seen a video where the lines were also easy to follow along the treetops. That doesn't mean it's easy to follow the lines for many kilometres to their origin, but it does mean that if you have a rough idea of where to look for a drone team, the lines could reveal where they are.
Easy issue to solve since the fiber spool doesnt have to be attached to the remote controller.. all a drone following fiber back would spot is a router looking thing at best.
The "router" would need to be fairly close to the operator in order to maintain a connection though, and if you keep it under observation you would be able to catch the operators when they're packing to move.
They spot targets first then send these fiber optic guides drones on a one way trip to killsville.
At least that's my understanding. I doubt they launch them from some central drone storage location, these drones are carried by a small team, fired off, then the team leaves the area.
I could be wrong though, I'm not an expert.