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Political impacts of Ukraine war

Kirkhill said:
A fibre optic drone solution in days?
Dovetails with that rapid RFP from the Brits calling for solutions by Apr 21.
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A whole crapload of research and trials to figure out how to recover most of that fibreoptic cable in a area full of mine/UEO and what is the effect on the environment and how fast will it break down.
 
Colin Parkinson said:
A whole crapload of research and trials to figure out how to recover most of that fibreoptic cable in a area full of mine/UEO and what is the effect on the environment and how fast will it break down.
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Tomorrow's problem?
 
Kirkhill said:
Tomorrow's problem?
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Tomorrow may be to late to protect those field for potentiel future agricultural use. I am thinking aerial drones with grapples to recover/collect the fibre optic to a safe point, where it can be reeled in onto a collection drum. As the battlefield shifts, clearing teams will be needed.
 
Colin Parkinson said:
Tomorrow may be to late to protect those field for potentiel future agricultural use. I am thinking aerial drones with grapples to recover/collect the fibre optic to a safe point, where it can be reeled in onto a collection drum. As the battlefield shifts, clearing teams will be needed.
Click to expand...

It might depend on how fragile those lines are. Ideally you want to reel them up so that you capture the beginning, end and everything in between.

Dropping grapples on to them and yanking may just chop them into a lot of smaller segments that will be harder to separate from the soil.

At lest mines can be seen or physically screened.
 
Kirkhill said:
It might depend on how fragile those lines are. Ideally you want to reel them up so that you capture the beginning, end and everything in between.

Dropping grapples on to them and yanking may just chop them into a lot of smaller segments that will be harder to separate from the soil.

At lest mines can be seen or physically screened.
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Problem is they’re all latticed over each other potentially hundreds deep.
 
Just spitballing here...

An OTDR Fibre tester can accurately determine the length of a fibre optic cable by injecting light into one end. Lets say you go to one of these areas that is littered with Fibre Optic Cables and cut the cables and inject light to determine the length of each cable. If you can accurately identify your location using GPS then enter into an AI mapping system to calculate the length of each of the fibres you could then plot the possible radius of each plot. Where a number of these plots intercept you could identify a likely origin point where they are launched from so you know where to focus your counter-drone ISR assets. Once the launch point is confirmed you can target with artillery to take out the enemy drone teams.

This would require having some type of identifier on your own side's fibre optic cables so that you are only testing the enemy's cables.
 
I made a post about 2 known counters to fiber optic drones in the GBAD thread, felt it was a more appropriate place.

HavokFour

Post in thread 'GBAD - The return of 'FOBS''

Here are 2 already publicly known counters to fiber optic drones Ukraine has been tinkering with.



And a more static "fortification" type counter that doesn't really require any specialized tech, incredibly cheap because the components are already extremely common in the majority of militaries in the west.

Wood stakes, 150 meters of razor wire, and a small battery powered electric motor and timer.

1 minute on, 1 minute off, with juice for 12 hours that can easily be extended with larger batteries.

Wouldn't be difficult to integrate with existing base and airfield...
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brihard said:
Problem is they’re all latticed over each other potentially hundreds deep.
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Understood.

I'm just saying that, as with many things, it might be worthwhile approaching the problem with care.
 
I think now would be a good time to put some civilian experts onto the issue of how long does it last in exposed conditions and what might be the best way to retrieve it. Apparently the price of fiberoptic cable is skyrocketing...
 
Colin Parkinson said:
I think now would be a good time to put some civilian experts onto the issue of how long does it last in exposed conditions and what might be the best way to retrieve it. Apparently the price of fiberoptic cable is skyrocketing...
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And China is cleaning up....

After an extended period of subdued pricing in several regions, optical fibre prices are rising sharply alongside sustained demand growth. Chinese G.562.D bare fibre prices surged by more than 80% between November 2025 and January 2026, pushing China prices above Europe and India. This is unprecedented development in the recent years and the first time in over seven years that Chinese prices exceeded European levels. This shift signals a change in the underlying balance between supply and consumption, with tightening upstream constraints meeting continued infrastructure investment.

Optical fibre prices rise as preform availability tightens - CRU Group

Optical fibre prices are rising alongside sustained demand growth. Visit CRUGroup.com to uncover the impact across multiple regions.
www.crugroup.com www.crugroup.com
 
Today is Ukrainian Arms Makers' Day, a professional holiday. Recognizing the people that are for the most part unseen working in the background. The date coincides with the day the Moskva was struck with Neptune missiles in 2022, and later sunk on the 14th.


Some pretty good views of stuff that usually only ever appears on grainy video, too.
 
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Maybe in addition to the "Who needs sailors, anyway?" thread we also need a "Who needs infantry, anyway?" thread...

www.politico.eu

Robots captured Russian army positions for first time in history, Zelenskyy says

“The occupiers surrendered, and the operation was carried out without infantry and without losses on our side,” says Ukrainian leader.
www.politico.eu www.politico.eu

“For the first time in the history of this war, an enemy position was taken exclusively by unmanned platforms — ground systems and drones,” Zelenskyy said on Monday.

“The occupiers surrendered, and the operation was carried out without infantry and without losses on our side,” Zelenskyy added.
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In January, Ukrainian ground robot Droid TW-7.62, equipped with artificial intelligence elements for autonomous detection, capture and tracking of targets, took three Russian soldiers as POWs, Ukrainian defense manufacturer Devdroid said.
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OK...so it may have to be scaled up a bit, but...
Zelenskyy said that in the first three months of 2026, ground robotic systems performed more than 22,000 missions on Ukraine’s front line.
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