When Kalashnikov subsidiary ZALA boasted about their new 'Product 55' quadcopter being immune to radio jamming, it suggested some form of autonomy similar to what the company had previously demonstrated. However, a captured Russian FPV attack drone has revealed a surprising twist: it operates without a radio, communicating with its operator through a fiber-optic cable as it flies.
Inside The Mystery Egg
On March 2nd, Ukrainian military blogger Serhii "Flash" reported a peculiar new type of Russian FPV kamikaze drone. Apart from the usual warhead, it carried a hollow plastic egg containing mysterious equipment. Flash reached out to his readers, asking if anyone could identify the purpose of this equipment.
A few days later, he provided the answer. Ukrainian experts dismantled the drone and found that the mystery device was actually a spool of fiber optic cable attached to a commercial Chinese-made optical transceiver used for high-speed communications.
This discovery surprised Flash, but not entirely.
I were skeptical about its feasibility. A drone unwinding a coil of 10 kilometers of cable in the air without damaging the fiber seemed unlikely."
Many online commenters share the same astonishment, with some finding it hard to believe that such a technique could function. However, this type of guidance system has a long history.
Ukrainian military