On July 8, Ukrainian communications, electronic warfare, and radio-electronic intelligence specialist Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov reported that the enemy has nearly completed testing of the “Molniya” winged strike drone controlled via fiber optic cable. This information coincides with an official statement from the Russian design bureau OKB “Alfa,” which announced serial production of a similar aircraft with a flight range of up to 50 kilometers.
According to Beskrestnov, the enemy is already finishing tests of such a drone. The expert believes this will allow the enemy to use the technology more actively for strikes against border regions.
Just as with AI-powered UAVs, the main idea is to make flights of strike UAVs with warheads of up to 10 kg invisible to our radio-electronic reconnaissance and beyond the reach of our electronic warfare. And the high image quality will allow controlling the wing at low altitudes, maneuvering around obstacles. Low altitudes reduce target visibility on radar, — comments Serhii “Flash.”
He draws attention to the trade-off that developers are forced to make: switching to fiber optic inevitably “eats up” some of the aircraft’s flight characteristics — warhead weight and flight range — in exchange for complete immunity to electronic suppression means. That is, a cheaper and more mass-produced strike drone becomes slower to manufacture and more technically complex, but has a greater chance of reaching its target.
“Molniya” is a Russian fixed-wing kamikaze drone that throughout 2024–2026 became a mass-produced weapon with a unit cost several times lower than that of the “Shahed.”
There is still no systemic solution against fiber optic drones. To counter them, the focus is shifting toward two directions: detection and physical destruction of the groups that launch and operate the UAVs.