“The key component for the production of drones on optical fiber has become cheaper several times and has become more affordable for defense companies.”, — write: epravda.com.ua
The key component for the production of drones on optical fiber has become cheaper several times and has become more affordable for defense companies. This is stated in the material of the EP. According to the co-founder of Smart Electronics Group, Vladyslav Oleksienko, two years ago, a reel with an optical fiber and a chip for transmitting a signal from Chinese manufacturers cost up to $2,500, so drones invulnerable to REB were very expensive, and no one wanted to buy them. “Now the situation has changed dramatically: ordinary FPV drones are increasingly being jammed by EW, and the price of fiber optic reels has dropped to $500 apiece, because Chinese factories received a large-scale order from Russia and overclocked their capacities,” he said. Advertising: The biggest beneficiaries of the spread the new technology has become Chinese factories that sell fiber optic coils to both sides of the war. “We recently learned that one of the Chinese factories has been mass-producing fiber optic reels for the Russian Federation for 7 months. We are now also ordering from them,” one of the Ukrainian drone manufacturers said off the record. As a result, the cost of fiber-optic drones in Ukraine is also gradually decreasing. “Prices on the Ukrainian market are falling. If earlier the cheapest fiber-optic drones cost 60-80 thousand UAH, now they cost about 30 thousand UAH,” said Oleksiy Babenko, director of the Vyriy drone company. In his opinion, the cost can be even lower if Ukrainian companies independently produce fiber optic reels. “We will make the components ourselves. We calculated that after scaling up production, our serial fiber-optic drone will be only 3-6 thousand UAH more expensive than the usual radio-controlled one. The technology of winding the fiber optic and assembling communication boards is not the easiest, but experienced engineers can easily You need 25 people, 20 winding machines – and you will have 5 thousand bobbins per month coils cost us about $150,” he noted. Advertisement: Fiber-optic drones are completely invulnerable to EW devices. Russia has already started mass production of these drones. How Ukraine will catch up – read in the text: They are not affected by the EW. How Ukraine is deploying the production of drones on optical fiber.