On or before Saturday, Russian troops somewhere along the 700-mile (about 1,100-km) front line of Russia’s 40-month wider war on Ukraine detected incoming Ukrainian drones. Specifically: fiber-optic first-person-view drones that send and receive signals via millimeters-thick, but miles-long, spools of optical fiber.

Fiber-optic FPVs are extremely difficult to defeat. The main defense against wireless FPVs, which send and receive signals by radio, is electronic jamming that can ground the drones before they strike. But fiber-optic FPVs can’t be jammed. That’s why both the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces are building more of the fiber-optic models—even though they’re several times more expensive than the $500 wireless models.

But sever a drone’s optical fiber, and it’ll fall from the air. Optical fiber is tough, but it can be broken by bending it 180 degrees. Surgical scissors can also cut right through it—as the Russians were well aware. “Got the scissors?” one hidden Russian asked after a Ukrainian FPV buzzed past, trailing its optical fiber, in a video from the Saturday incident. “Got ‘em,” another hidden Russian responded.

The soldiers hurried from their hiding spot, found the drone’s thin optical fiber—and cut it.

The drone lost its command signal. “It’s falling,” one Russian breathed right before the drone exploded a short distance away.

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The circumstances of the Saturday fiber-cutting will be difficult for the Russians—and Ukrainians, for that matter—to duplicate. The soldiers had to have ample warning of the incoming drone raid, opportunity to hide from the passing drone and plenty of luck. If a second drone had followed the first, it might’ve struck the Russians as they tried to scissor the first drone’s fiber.

Cut the cord

Yes, scissors are an effective defense against fiber-optic drones—but only in the most extraordinary circumstances. That’s why both sides are literally digging in, going underground to avoid the millions of FPVs swarming the front as the war grinds into its fourth year.

More and more, armored vehicles and infantry hide indoors or underground when they’re not actively attacking or defending. It’s a new “era of the cautious tank,” according to David Kirichenko, an analyst with the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C. 

The only scalable active defenses against fiber-optic drones are to shoot them down right before they strike, usually with shotguns. That’s risky, however. Miss with your first shot, and you might not get a second one before the drone strikes.

Acknowledging the difficulty of stopping fiber-optic FPVs right before they explode, the Russians and Ukrainians are trying to stop them “left of the boom,” to borrow a US Army term. That might mean detecting the optical fibers left over from earlier attacks, tracing the fibers back to the drone operators—and bombarding the operators with drones or artillery. 

That only works if the operators unwisely linger in the same location long enough for the enemy to hunt them down. 

Ukrainian forces are trying to get even farther left of the boom—attacking the factories that produce Russia’s FPVs. 

On 13 March, long-range drones belonging to the Ukrainian defense intelligence agency struck a hidden drone manufacturing facility in Obukhovo, just outside Moscow, 300 miles (about 480 km) from the border with Ukraine. A few weeks later, in April, Ukraine sortied one of its then-new Aeroprakt A-22 sport plane drones to strike a drone plant in Yelabuga, 550 miles (about 880 km) east of Moscow.

And on 4 April, a dozen Ukrainian attack drones motored 460 miles (about 740 km) into Russia and struck a factory in the city of Saransk. The target was the Optic Fiber Systems factory, which produces—you guessed it—fiber-optic cables. The critical component in Russia’s best unjammable FPVs.

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Ukraine has reinvented the Trojan Horse tactic during Operation Spiderweb inside Russia, NATO Admiral Pierre Vandier said in an interview with AFP on June 9.

Kyiv's operation, conducted overnight on June 1, involved hiding first-person view (FPV) drones in trucks deep inside Russia before the attack. The operation damaged 41 aircraft, including Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 bombers — two of Russia's primary platforms for missile attacks against Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian military. It caused approximately $7 billion in damage and disabled one-third of Russia's cruise missile bombers, according to a source in the Security Service of Ukraine.

"What the Ukrainians did in Russia was a Trojan Horse — and the Trojan Horse was thousands of years ago," Vandier, NATO's supreme allied commander transformation, said. "Today, we see this kind of tactic being reinvented by technical and industrial creativity."

Vandier said that NATO needs to act quickly to master new technologies in time, considering the looming Russian threat. But the admiral added that while drones are indispensable in modern warfare, they are not omnipotent.

"No one in the military sphere will tell you that we can do without what we'll call traditional equipment," Vandier said. "However, we are certain we need new equipment to complement it."

"Today, you won't cross the Atlantic with a 10-meter-long (33-foot-long) drone. You won't easily locate submarines with such tools," he added.

"If they accompany your large platforms, you'll be able to achieve much better results at much lower costs."

Ukraine has pioneered drone technology during Russia's full-scale war, introducing various ground-, air-, and sea-based models for combat and reconnaissance missions.

Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on May 30 that Ukrainian soldiers hit and destroyed in May more than 89,000 Russian targets using drones of various types.

Ukraine is working to scale up domestic production. Kyiv has also developed long-range missile-drone hybrids, including the Palianytsia and Peklo models, which use turbojet engines as cruise missile alternatives.

By the end of 2024, Ukraine had developed a total of 324 new types of weapons, according to the Ministry of Strategic Industries.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) used exclusively domestically produced drones and did not deploy any equipment from allied stockpiles in its recent attack on Russian heavy bombers, President Volodymyr Zelensky told ABC News in an interview published on June 7.

"I wanted very much to use only what we produce and to have the separation (be) very clear," Zelensky said, as quoted by the TV network.

On June 1, Ukraine launched a game-changing drone attack on four Russian military airfields, damaging 41 planes, including heavy bombers and rare A-50 spy planes, now largely known as Operation Spiderweb.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently confirm the number of planes allegedly damaged and destroyed by the SBU. At least 21 planes were damaged or destroyed, according to open-source intelligence analysts.

Kyiv has claimed it had disabled 34% of Russia's strategic bomber fleet in what is seen as one of the most daring operations during the full-scale war.

To do so, Ukraine used one of the cheapest weapons already used on the battlefield — first-person-view (FPV) drones.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has been developing and deploying technological innovations and cutting-edge unmanned systems. Both Ukraine and Russia have increasingly relied on drone warfare, using aerial, naval, and ground-based drones for reconnaissance and combat missions.

In late March, presidential advisor Alexander Kamyshin said in an interview with Radio Khartia that Ukrainian manufacturers have the capacity to produce over 5 million FPV drones per year.

A year-and-a-half in the planning, and reportedly personally overseen by SBU Chief Vasyl Malyuk and Zelensky, Operation Spiderweb was an "absolutely unique operation," according to the president.

According to the SBU, the drones were smuggled into Russia, where they were then hidden on the roofs of wooden cabins, which were then transported by truck to the air bases being targeted.

When they reached their destinations, the roofs were retracted remotely, and the drones simply flew off towards the Russian bombers.

In the interview with ABC News released on June 7, Zelesnky said truck drivers who transported the drones did not know anything about their role in the attack.

"They didn't know anything," Zelensky said. "They just did their job."

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Ukraine was jubilant on June 1 as news filtered through of a stunning drone attack targeting Russian heavy bombers, that simultaneously targeted four air bases, two of them thousands of miles inside Russia. “Enemy strategic bombers are burning en masse in Russia — this is the result of a special operation

The Kyiv IndependentChris York

What happens when your enemy copies your best weapon? Russia’s latest drone innovation mirrors Ukraine’s own breakthrough—and the implications stretch far beyond the battlefield.

Russia’s Molniya drone mothership carries FPV attack drones tens of kilometers behind Ukrainian lines, marking the first confirmed use of this Ukrainian-pioneered technology by Russian forces.

The innovation, which Ukrainian forces developed and Russia has now embraced, extends the range of smaller explosives-laden drones from mere miles to dozens of kilometers. It’s essentially a smaller-scale, aerial version of the drone deployment method the Ukrainian state security agency, or SBU, used to devastate five Russian air bases on Sunday.

The SBU operation, involving more than 100 small quadcopter drones smuggled across Russia in specially modified truck trailers, ended with the destruction of more than a dozen Russian warplanes including irreplaceable Tupolev Tu-22M and Tu-95 bombers and Beriev A-50 radar planes.

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Russia copies Ukrainian drone tactics

The Russian drone-carrying drone was caught on camera for the first time on or just before Wednesday. Rob Lee, an analyst with the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, identified the carrier as a Molniya, an inexpensive one-way attack drone with a battery-powered propeller engine and a payload of up to five kg. The Molniya’s payload was a standard first-person-view quadcopter.

“These could be a serious problem,” Lee warned.

The rationale behind the drone-piggybacking-on-a-drone innovation is obvious. On its own, an FPV drone ranges just a few miles. It’s constrained by its battery life and the reach of its radio transmitter. By contrast, a Molniya ranges as far as 40 km. It could launch its FPV at the end of its sortie, and even relay the FPV’s radio signal back to the drones’ operators—effectively adding tens of kilometers to the FPV’s range.

Once the FPV has struck its target, the Molniya no longer needs to act as a carrier and relay—and can strike a target, too.

Ukraine pioneered drone motherships in 2023

Drone-carrying “mothership” drones are proliferating on both sides of Russia’s 39-month war on Ukraine. Russian troops first encountered Ukrainian motherships in November 2023. Today, when Ukrainian FPVs strike as far as 40 km behind the line of contact, it’s often because they were carried into the Russian rear area by motherships.

From sea to sky: Ukraine’s expanding drone fleet

The Ukrainians even launch FPVs from their satellite-controlled unmanned surface vehicles. In other words, drone-carrying drone boats.

The first strike by a USV drone-carrier, in December, targeted a Russian-occupied oil platform in the Black Sea. Four months later, the robotic aircraft carriers motored along the coast of occupied Crimea, launching FPVs that blew up a pair of Russian air-defense vehicles: an Osa and a Strela.

The newest Ukrainian aerial mothership, the StratForce Gogol-M, deployed last month. The propeller-driven, catapult-launched Gogol-M can carry two FPVs as far as 300 km. “A $10,000 mission replaces what previously required $3 to $5 million missile systems,” a StratForce official told Forbes.

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The communication challenge driving AI adoption

The main problem for all operators of mothership drones is communication. Line-of-sight radio struggles to reach over the horizon, potentially just a few miles away. Satellite radio signals can be jammed. Ranging hundreds of kilometers from their operators, a mothership and its smaller drones risk getting cut off.

Autonomy is one answer. It’s not for no reason that StratForce has equipped the Gogol-M with A.I. that can steer the drones toward recognizable targets. “It’s like a self-driving car,” the company official told Forbes.

It’s unclear whether the Russians have installed AI in the Molniya or other mothership drones.

Reusable vs. expendable: the next evolution

It’s also unclear whether the Russians expect any of the drone-carrying Molniyas to return to base after launching their FPVs. The Gogol-M is designed to launch its FPVs and then return to base, effectively making it the small, robotic analogue of a manned bomber armed with even smaller cruise missiles.

Reusable motherships are even more dangerous than single-use motherships. If their FPVs miss you the first time, they might just return to base, load up more FPVs—and come after you again.

Ukrainian drones will reach a new level. Newly appointed commander of the unmanned systems forces, Robert “Madiar” Brovdy, launches a major upgrade and deployment, Texty reports. 

Brovdy says 6–7 units of the Unmanned Systems Forces’ Drone Line are expected to enter the top ten most effective UAV units in the current ranking of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Over the next 100 days, Brovdy also announced the following steps:

• Deployment of a unified electronic system for planning, coordination, command, and online reporting for all USF units, 
• Expansion of USF operations into tactical and operational depth with 12 levels of application — from reconnaissance to countering enemy drones, 
• Increase in domestic production of munitions and creation of a unified supply depot for critical components such as StarLink, batteries, EW systems, and FPV parts, 
• Use of ground robotic complexes for the logistics of munitions, drones, and peripherals, 
• Execution of a unified recruitment campaign and establishment of a proprietary training network for drone pilots and operators of various systems, 
• Separate re-certification of personnel, retraining of inexperienced or unfit crews, and retraining by types of flight activities. Command aims for a clear match between functions, training, and the combat potential of each fighter.

As part of the reform of the Unmanned Systems Forces, a unified approach is planned to analyze capabilities, operational facts, and effectiveness of actions according to drone models and types of ammunition. This will form the basis for precise planning and efficient real-time supply of units.

A separate direction, details of which are not disclosed, concerns the use of UAVs at strategic depth.

In the field of technology development, the current Innovation and Development Center is undergoing transformation. Instead of functioning at the brigade level, it will serve the needs of the entire branch of the armed forces.

Moscow ramps up production of millions of drones — not without help from China, which officially “knows nothing” about the cooperation, writes Politico. 

Moscow has gained an advantage in the drone war in Ukraine due to its vast financial resources, production lines located far from the front lines, and especially assistance from Beijing.

Oleh Aleksandrov, a representative of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, says Chinese manufacturers supply Russia with equipment, electronics, navigation, optical, and telemetry systems, engines, microchips, processor modules, antenna systems, and control boards.

“They use so-called shell companies, change names, do everything to avoid being subject to export control and avoid sanctions for their activities,” he explains. 

Officially, China claims to comply with all regulations. But only officially, Aleksandrov adds.

According to him, Russia increased its production of long-range drones from 15,000 in 2024 to over 30,000 this year and aims to produce up to 2 million small tactical drones. 

“They aim to produce about 30,000 long-range drones of those types plus 30,000 false target drones they use to exhaust Ukrainian air defenses in 2025,” he continues. 

As for FPV drones, the Russians intend to manufacture as many as 2 million of them in 2025.

Russia is also increasing its use of fiber-optic drones, which are immune to electronic warfare. Ukrainian forces previously could detect ordinary Russian drones as soon as they took off, but this is much harder with fiber-optic ones.

“So we have to use different acoustic and other means to trace those drones,” said Andrii, the army commander.

Moreover, according to him, the Russians are ramping up not only drone production but also electronic warfare systems. 

Radio frequencies change on his section of the front every two weeks. As a result, when Ukraine supplies drones, only about 20% of them are usable. Constant adjustments cost extra time and money.

Russia plans to produce 2 million first-person-view (FPV) drones and 30,000 long-range and decoy drones in 2025 for its war against Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU) spokesperson Oleh Aleksandrov told Politico on June 5.

The ramp-up marks a critical expansion of Moscow's drone warfare program, as both Ukraine and Russia increasingly rely on unmanned systems for reconnaissance and front-line attacks.

According to Aleksandrov, Russia's drone production is heavily dependent on Chinese components. Despite Beijing's public denials, Chinese manufacturers continue to supply Russia with key electronics and technologies.

"They use so-called shell companies, change names, do everything to avoid being subject to export control and avoid sanctions for their activities," Aleksandrov said.

The intelligence official warned that this industrial support allows Moscow to narrow Ukraine's early advantage in drone innovation.

"They aim to produce about 30,000 long-range drones of those types plus 30,000 false target drones they use to exhaust Ukrainian air defenses in 2025," he added. "As for the FPV drones, Russians are aiming to produce a whopping 2 million of them in 2025."

FPV drones, small and agile devices often equipped with explosive payloads, have proven highly effective in damaging tanks, artillery, and other high-value targets at low cost.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this year that Moscow is working to manufacture up to 500 long-range drones per day, Suspilne reported.

The Kremlin's nightly drone attacks — frequently involving Iranian-designed Shahed-type drones — have strained Ukraine's air defenses and inflicted heavy damage on cities and infrastructure.

Ukraine, for its part, has dramatically scaled up domestic drone production in response.

The Strategic Industries Ministry reported that Ukraine more than doubled its long-range drone output in 2024 compared to 2023 — a 22-fold increase over 2022.

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The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova

The coordination center of the Security Service of Ukraine’s (SBU) operation Web on Russian territory was located directly next to one of the FSB’s regional offices, says President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, UkrInform reports. 

On 1 June, the SBU carried out a unique special operation called Web (Pavutynnia), launching smart FPV-drone strikes on four Russian airbases. As a result of the operation, over 40 aircraft were struck, including A-50 radar planes, Tu-95, and Tu-22M3 bombers. The estimated value of the destroyed bombers exceeds $7 billion. Russia used them to target Ukrainian civilians. 

In his daily address to the nation, Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to the SBU, especially to the agency’s chief, General Vasyl Maliuk, and to everyone involved in the operation.

According to him, the operation was in preparation for more than a year and a half.

“The planning, coordination, and every detail were perfectly prepared. The most interesting part, something we can already say publicly, is that the office for our operation on Russian territory was located directly next to a regional FSB office,” Zelenskyy said.

He added that 117 drones were used in the operation, each operated by a separate team.

“As a result, 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers at their airbases were hit. Our people were active across different Russian regions in three time zones,” the Ukrainian leader reported.

All personnel involved in preparing Operation Web were successfully withdrawn from Russian territory in time.

“Of course, we can’t reveal everything yet, but these are Ukrainian actions that will undoubtedly be recorded in history books. Ukraine is defending itself, and rightfully so. We are doing everything to make Russia feel the need to end this war. Russia started this war. Russia must end it,” the president stated.

Meanwhile, many politicians and journalists have reacted to the operation, saying that Ukraine surprisingly has the cards. They hint at US President Donald Trump’s statement that Kyiv does not have the conditions to dictate its terms in peace negotiations. 

For instance, American billionaire Elon Musk, who is known for his ambiguous stance on the war in Ukraine, has also commented on the strikes. 

He responded in the comments under a post by another user who had praised the Ukrainian operation. Musk highlighted the operation’s technological aspect, saying that “Drones are the future of warfare. Manned aircraft are not.”

Ukraine presented weapons that have already changed the rules of war at the European Defence Innovation Days 2025 (EDID25) exhibition in late May 2025, according to ArmyInform. 

Among the highlights were autonomous FPV drones, a new class of naval drones, and robotic ground systems transforming logistics on the front lines. 

The EDID25 forum was hosted by the European Defence Agency (EDA) in Kraków, Poland. The event brought together developers, military personnel, scientists, and industry leaders from across Europe.

Twelve Ukrainian companies showcased their innovations. According to Anatolii Khrapchynskyi, deputy director of an electronic warfare company and military expert, Ukraine did not come with concepts, but with real, battle-tested technology.

“These are not mock-ups. These are technologies that save lives and are changing the rules of modern warfare,” Khrapchynskyi emphasized.

Among the systems demonstrated:

• FPV drones with autonomous targeting, capable of striking without an operator, due to computer vision.
• Naval drones that have learned to intercept airborne targets — effectively a new class of weapons
• Mavic- and Matrice-type drones, fully assembled with Ukrainian-made electronics
• Ground robotic systems that revolutionize frontline logistics, remotely mine terrain, and establish new firing positions 

“Our technologies are not just innovation. They are combat experience transformed into solutions. We know how to turn challenges into breakthroughs,” said Khrapchynskyi.

A key takeaway for European partners is that Ukraine is becoming not just a production hub but a source of experience, flexibility, and strategic thinking.

That is why Khrapchynskyi stressed the need to establish an Engineering Command Center in Ukraine, a permanent hub for military innovation staffed by Ukrainian and European experts.

This center should:

• Translate battlefield experience into technical specifications;
• Anticipate the needs of future wars;
• Coordinate cross-sector development of systems and platforms.

“Europe is searching for solutions. And Ukraine has the answers — practical, combat-proven, and scalable,” the expert concluded.

Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that a total of 34% of Russia’s strategic missile carriers based at their main airfields were hit in the operation SpiderWeb, which targeted at least four airfields. 

Ukraine used smart FPV-drones launched from cargo trucks to target the aircraft. 

A Russian intercept of a Ukrainian drone’s video feed has revealed how Ukrainian FPV kamikaze drones use smart terminal guidance systems that enable automatic target engagement, even when the signal is disrupted.

According to Defense Express, footage from a Ukrainian FPV drone—its video signal reportedly intercepted by Russian forces—shows the sequence of how a drone with a target confirmation system functions under battlefield conditions.

The intercepted video was published by NIP Tysk Telegram channel.

FPV kamikaze drones now use smart guidance

Russians intercepted the video signal of a Ukrainian FPV drone showing key tech in action:

– RXLOSS mode kicks in when signal is blocked.
– RCSMOOTHING helps stabilize pilot input.
– A menu guides the operator as the drone locks onto… pic.twitter.com/7GqPIhrliF

— Clash Report (@clashreport) May 29, 2025

The drone enters RXLOSS (signal loss) mode multiple times early in the footage, indicating moments where the communication link between the aircraft and operator was blocked or degraded. The signal loss condition in FPV systems can often occur under electronic warfare (EW) interference.

At the 46-second mark, the screen displays RCSMOOTHING, a function that supports stabilization of operator control inputs. At 56 seconds, the interface presents a menu with guidance prompts and a status message indicating that the drone is awaiting target confirmation.

Forbes: Ukrainian AI drones claim 80% hit rate—yet human pilots remain superior

By 1:02, the drone locks on to a target, and the on-screen message changes from “Aim” to “Attacking.” At this stage, the drone autonomously flies toward the locked point, initiating a strike without further input from the operator.

Alternative to fiber-optic drones in EW-heavy conditions

Defense Express notes that these FPV drones equipped with confirmation and guidance systems are emerging as an alternative to fiber-optic-controlled drones, particularly in environments saturated with electronic warfare.

Unlike fiber-optic drones—which become inoperable if their cable is cut—these drones can operate wirelessly and carry heavier payloads. Their ability to continue a strike mission after signal degradation gives them tactical resilience, especially during the final approach to a target.

However, the system also has limitations. It still requires manual piloting to reach a viable launch point before autonomous engagement can begin. If the drone loses connection too early, the mission may fail before the auto-strike phase can activate.

Additionally, as Defense Express reports, the system currently lacks the ability to precisely target specific weak points on vehicles or fortifications, which can be critical for successful destruction of armored vehicles and hardened assets.

Ukrainian drones hit Russian military train with fuel in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast (video)