{"version":1,"tree":{"n":"html","c":[{"n":"head","x":"\n ","l":"\n ","c":[{"n":"title","x":"Desconocido","l":"\n \n "},{"n":"link","l":"\n","a":[["rel","stylesheet"],["type","text/css"],["href","../../stylesheet.css"]]},{"n":"link","l":"\n","a":[["rel","stylesheet"],["type","text/css"],["href","../../page_styles.css"]]}]},{"n":"body","a":[["class","calibre"]],"c":[{"n":"div","x":"| ","a":[["class","calibre_navbar"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"Siguiente","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["rel","articlenextlink"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_5/article_5/index_u80.html\", \"frag\": \"\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú de sección","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_5/index_u76.html\", \"frag\": \"article_4\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú principal","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"index_u63.html\", \"frag\": \"feed_5\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Anterior","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["rel","articleprevlink"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_5/article_3/index_u28.html\", \"frag\": \"\"}"]]},{"n":"hr","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre6"]]}]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]],"c":[{"n":"div","x":"The tethered threat","a":[["class","calibre8"]]},{"n":"h1","x":"How new drones are sneaking past jammers on Ukraine’s front lines","a":[["class","calibre9"]]},{"n":"div","x":"A low-tech fix is delivering high-impact results","a":[["class","calibre19"]]},{"n":"p","x":"may. 08, 2025 01:49 | Kyiv","a":[["class","calibre10"]]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]],"c":[{"n":"img","a":[["src","images/img1_u29.jpg"],["title","A FPV fibre optic drone flies in Ukraine"],["class","calibre3"],["data-calibre-src","feed_5/article_4/images/img1_u29.jpg"]]}]},{"n":"div","x":"No jam today","a":[["class","calibre11"]]},{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"D","a":[["data-caps","initial"],["class","calibre13"]]},{"n":"span","x":"RONES HAVE","l":" transformed the ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"a","x":"war in Ukraine","l":". Commanders sit in bunkers scanning banks of screens, as surveillance drones hunt for targets on the ground. Once they are spotted, artillery or mortars may blast them. Or bomb-dropping or kamikaze drones zoom in for the kill. The problem is that well over half the drones in the air are downed by jamming and accidents. But a new addition to the arsenal of both sides is proving more effective. They are fibre-optic drones. With no radio signal to detect or jam, they are proving much harder to stop.","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/05/01/a-mineral-deal-with-america-points-to-a-path-ahead-for-ukraine"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"In a factory in Kyiv production of the new ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"drones","l":" is being increased from 600 a month to an expected 10,000 by the end of the summer. 3","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2025/03/12/ukraines-embrace-of-drone-warfare-has-paid-off"]]},{"n":"span","x":"D","l":"Tech is one of 11 Ukrainian companies in the fibre-optic drone business. It also makes some 3,000 kits to upgrade existing drones each month. Mihailo, commander of the Typhoon drone unit fighting in Ukraine’s east, is enthusiastic. Today 20% of his drones are the new variety, but he reckons that by the summer they will be the majority.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"blockquote","a":[["class","calibre20"]],"c":[{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"a","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/topics/ukraine-at-war"]],"c":[{"n":"i","x":"Read more of our recent coverage of the Ukraine war","a":[["class","calibre18"]]}]}]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Unlike mainstream drones, of which Ukraine produced 2.2m last year, fibre-optic ones are controlled by a fishing-line-style filament redolent of the wire-guided missile systems first deployed in 1945. Not only are they hard to down (at least for now), but the fibre-optic cable means the picture relayed back to the pilot is crystal clear. It is the difference between upgrading from a 1970s fuzzy ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"TV","l":" picture to ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"HD","l":" quality, says Yuriy Ganusyak, whose company supplies batteries for drone-makers.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"The first fibre-optic drones appeared on the front a year ago. Russia began deploying them in large numbers by the end of last year, Ukraine a couple of months later. They played a big part in Russia’s successful counteroffensive in its Kursk region in March. Now they are being employed in Russia’s assaults in the east. They are particularly suitable for hilly terrain, where radio signals are often lost.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"Both sides are racing to source fibre-optic cable. On April 5th Ukraine was reported to have bombed a factory making the stuff in Saransk in Russia. Until now, no suitable fibre had been produced in Ukraine. Oleksiy Zhulinskiy, the chief technical officer of 3","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"D","l":"Tech, says the Chinese dominate the fibre market and that Ukrainian buyers have bumped into Russian ones in Chinese factories where both are vying to buy; Russia sometimes gazumps them. This month 3","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"D","l":"Tech is going to begin testing its own cable.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Unlike with a kite, the fibre-optic drone’s spool flies too, unwinding as it goes. In Mr Zhulinskiy’s factory, banks of 3","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"D","l":" printers whirr as they make them. Chinese ones were unreliable, and a reason why many of Ukraine’s first-generation fibre-optic drones failed to reach their targets. Now, claims Mr Zhulinskiy, 80% do.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Still, not everyone is convinced by the merits of the new drones. Olha Bihar, who commands an artillery and drone unit on the Orikhiv front in southern Ukraine, says they are heavy and it takes months to train a pilot to fly them. Their cable can get tangled in trees and it glints in sunlight, which can give away the location of the drone and its pilot. The drones also have a relatively short range of 10-15km. This means that the pilot needs to be right at the front in order to hit well inside enemy territory.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"New ideas are being tested to counter fibre-optic drones. Both sides are constructing nets over key roads and positions, but these are not proving much of a defence. If the drones are heard above, troops use shotguns to pepper them. 3","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"D","l":"Tech is testing a drone with a sawn-off shotgun for attacking other drones.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Fibre-optic drones may be the new big thing, but they are a stopgap solution developed to circumvent jamming. In the Ukrainian arms race, the holy grail is a laser weapon capable of blinding or frying the electronic heart of any incoming drone, missile, warplane or helicopter. At a tech fair on April 13th Vadym Sukharevsky, head of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, showed how Ukraine is testing its own Tryzub laser system to do just this. The effective lifespan of any new military technology seems to be getting ever shorter as the war drags on. ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"■"}]},{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"i","x":"To stay on top of the biggest European stories, sign up to ","a":[["class","calibre18"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"Café Europa","l":", our weekly subscriber-only newsletter.","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/newsletters/cafe-europa"]]}]}]}]},{"n":"div","x":"\n","a":[["class","calibre_navbar"]],"c":[{"n":"hr","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre6"]]},{"n":"p","x":"This article was downloaded by ","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre16"]],"c":[{"n":"strong","x":"calibre","l":" from ","a":[["class","calibre13"]]},{"n":"a","x":"https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/05/05/how-new-drones-are-sneaking-past-jammers-on-ukraines-front-lines","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/05/05/how-new-drones-are-sneaking-past-jammers-on-ukraines-front-lines"],["rel","calibre-downloaded-from"]]}]},{"n":"br","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]]},{"n":"br","l":" | ","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú de sección","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_5/index_u76.html\", \"frag\": \"article_4\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú principal","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"index_u63.html\", \"frag\": \"feed_5\"}"]]}]}]}]},"ns_map":["http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"]}