⚠️Video Highlights The Perils Of Attempting To Cut The Fiber-Optic Cable Of An Armed "FPV" Multirotor Drone In Flight

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⚠️***This NSFW features combat footage. Reading/viewing discretion is advised.***

Note: I have edited the original video to cut the most graphic scenes. This video is being uploaded for informational purposes only. Posts featuring NSFW content including combat footage will never be monetized/paid, subscriber-only posts.

Armed “first person video” (“FPV”) multirotor drones of the fiber-optic—as opposed to the radio frequency (RF)—communication uplink/downlink variety are controlled in flight by a remote human operator/pilot via fiber-optic cable carried in an onboard spool that is laid onto the ground. If the fiber-optic cable is deliberately cut or severed while maneuvering between objects—armed “FPV” multirotor drones of the fiber-optic communication uplink/downlink variety can be flown at a very low altitude, between trees, and inside buildings—the remote human operator/pilot will experience a loss of control. The armed “FPV” multirotor drone will then typically crash and, depending on the nature of any onboard warhead and its fusing, will typically detonate on impact—caveats are in order given that (A) some armed “FPV” multirotor drones of the fiber-optic communication uplink/downlink variety feature may onboard automatic target identifcation and engagement capability and (B) may be equipped a backup radio-frequency communication uplink/downlink, which will only function if there is a direct line-of-sight with a ground-based antenna and/or an aerial radio relay/repeater.

While the fiber-optic cable can be cut using scissors or a knife, thereby disabling the armed “FPV” drone—which may still detonate upon impact with the ground/the first object it flies into, depending on the nature of any warhead and how it is fused—this is a perilous approach given the evolving ways in which armed “FPV” multirotor drones of the fiber-optic communication uplink/downlink variety are being employed to take full advantage of the unique chracteristics of this type of armed “FPV” multirotor drone and amid the increasing availability thereof. The following video, which does not feature gore, documents a successful case of cutting the fiber-optic cable. Note the detonation in the distance following the remote human operator/pilot’s loss of control.

While there are documented successful cases of cutting the fiber-optic cable, this is an increasingly perilous approach. Armed “FPV” multirotor drones of the fiber-optic communication uplink/downlink variety are being built and deployed in ever-increasing numbers. These are most effectively employed in groups—at least in pairs—given that the warheads that these are equipped with are individually inadequate to disable many armoured combat vehicles, which are being extensively up-armoured by both Russia and Ukraine during the war, and to take full advantage of the unique characteristics of this type of armed “FPV” multirotor drone. Unlike armed “FPV” multirotor drones of the radio frequency communication uplink/downlink variety, those of the fiber-optic communication uplink/downlink variety can be used in high densities, given the irrelevance of crowding narrow radio frequency bands. This particular type of armed “FPV” multirotor drone is particularly well-suited to breaching a target—blasting a hole in a door, roof, wall, or window, so that another armed “FPV” multirotor drone of the fiber-optic variety can fly inside the target. As a result, armed “FPV” multirotor drones of the fiber-optic variety are increasingly employed in groups of two or more. This can make cutting the fiber-optic cable a very perilous undertaking, as can be seen in the following combat footage recorded by a Russian armed “FPV” multirotor drone.

The above video, which was reportedly recorded in the Donetsk sector by a Russian armed “FPV” multirotor drone of the fiber-optic communication uplink/downlink variety—note the very low altitude flight characteristic of such uncrewed aircraft-turned-munitions—documents a Ukrainian soldier breaking cover to cut the fiber-optic cable of another Russian armed “FPV” multirotor drone. The Ukrainian soldier appears to have been unaware of the presence of a second Russian armed “FPV” multirotor drone of the fiber-optic communication uplink/downlink variety, the operator of which recofused of this target of opportunity and almost certainly killed the Ukrainian soldier who cut the fiber-optic cable of the other Russian armed “FPV” drone. This video offers an instructive example of how some of the most “obvious” countermeasures to a new military technology are best avoided unless no other option is available—one of the primary roles of military officers, technicians, and engineers is to devise means of doing something so as to avoid such perils.