Working on a project in this field. Fiber optic is the dumbest solution to it and one of the least efficient and costliest.
There have been a few articles on fibre optic drones in past weeks and they are all reporting these are very effective drones, and changing how drones are used on the battlefield?
It's obvious that they can work. But they are also a lot more expensive to use, by definition single-use, and also uncover the position of their controllers too obviously especially if they launch many drones from one position which they always do. And worst thing - they consume so much of the precious load capacity uselessly. This is a head-on, dumb ass solution. But, Ukrainians don't rely on it nearly as much as Russians do.
Yes, even in still limited numbers they have been highly effective. Hundreds of Ukrainian assets destroyed, and they have no real answer. Played a big part in Kursk becoming such a debacle. And Ukrainians cannot hope to match these numbers. All of this is why they are so obsessed with that one Russian fibre optics plant that’s in attack range. Which, however, is at most a minor source of drone fibre.