Such drones have a significant advantage over traditional ones due to their resilience against electronic warfare measures.
As military expert Oleg Katkov pointed out during a broadcast on the Kyiv24 channel, the high cost of fiber-optic drones and their limited flight range cast doubt on their long-term effectiveness on the battlefield.
"The question here is who has more financial resources to produce FPV drones using this technology, because fiber optics allow for ignoring electronic warfare measures," the expert explained.
However, Katkov also noted that there is an alternative technology – drones equipped with machine vision. These devices, featuring automatic recognition and targeting systems, can significantly reduce reliance on human factors and enhance strike accuracy. Machine vision can also greatly improve the resilience of drones against electronic warfare, as they do not depend on continuous communication with the operator. According to the expert, this could represent a significant advancement in the development of unmanned technologies, enabling drones to operate more autonomously.
Katkov emphasizes that while fiber-optic drones may have a temporary advantage, their role in warfare will not be long-lasting.
"In the case of machine vision, we're talking about a fairly small single-board mini-computer, meaning it's one board with a processor that provides high resilience to electronic warfare through auto-targeting. This could be a more promising solution," the expert notes.