Drones are everywhere. My brother watches them crisscross the sky supposedly checking how the crops are doing, but they don't spend much time near the crops. My son has seen them in this neighborhood, but with all the air traffic around here it's hard to see what's what up there. His eyes and my grandson can see much better than me. We fly our own little drones for fun, but as small as they are, they still carry cameras if we choose. Thinking of those huge monstrosities overhead makes me want to invest in certain ...tools.

On the plus side... All of those drones will blot out the sun, and reduce Global Warming!
ROTFLMAO

Exactly, 2 balloons, with a cable between them, rising up, come together, wrap the fiber optic cables up.
1 Million ideas will be hatched for how to deal with this. The bad part, to me, is that a cable is directional, in that ONE end is clearly the Pilot (and one of the 2 targets).

Thank you.

Not being up on drone tech, I wasn't aware of the fiber optic cable (can't be jammed like radio), but now I'm thinking of the ships in the Channel on D-Day with all the dirigible style balloons. Don't need a forest, just a bunch of balloons to entangle the fibers.

Don't know how closely anyone is following happenings in Ukraine. I lived in Ukr. and Russia (also worked in hi-tech at the 5-sided bldg) and am anal about it...the Russians are using lines of fast-moving motorcycle teams, tanks or APC's get cut up by drones. Front lines are covered with the white fiber optic cables. Moscow advances kilo by kilo, it's far different than a Nazi armored blitzkreig. Ukrainian men run and fight to get away from the conscription police seizing them off the street to send to the front where they are doomed. Check out Simplicius on Substack, RT dot com or Slavyangrad on Telegram for (yes, biased) but more factual data than anything in Western media.

Thanks for the excellent article SLL. And as pointed out above, limited only by our imagination.

Hope they don't ever show up at my picnic, no such thing as a Drone Trap or Drone Spray . . . YET!

Me dino has just discovered a new thing to be very afraid of. Imagine a sky full of so many enemy cheaply made drones darkening the sun and coming straight at you whether you're a soldier or whatever.
Clicked a link to see that small rowboat-sized drone boat. My reaction was, well, of course. Why not? Why didn't I think of that?
Oops. Now I just did think of something. Pricier submarine suicide drones that hunt and lock in on humongous manned nuclear powered navy submarines.
Once yet again, me old dino wonders if I've lived too long.

Well Said. Much like Virus/Anti-Virus.
We are now in the evolving game of drone/anti-drone.

That Fiber Optic Cable, I did not realize was connected. This means flying between trees is a limited endeavor. It also means "Net Attacks" have something else to latch onto.

As someone who loves the challenge, these drones have 2-3 weaknesses. First is the fiber connection. While tracing it back 20-30kms is not going to be easy, I would be developing a "tracer drone" that you attach to that cable, and it reels it in, creating a beacon to generate a target. While we cannot use EM (Electro Magnetic) which would be faster/easier (induce a signal on it, like a wire tracer in a house)...

For me, this is a pretty big target. A swarm of drones with these cables attached, get behind them, target the cables with a "net launcher, boa style wrap.

Next up, the devices use optics. Take one apart. Develop a new smoke that has "stickier" particles. The goal is to cloud up/block the optics.

Next up, the detonation process. Analyze the drone. Figure out how you can force the detonation to happen sooner. Anything from a laser hitting the right spot, to a jolt to flying a capacitor drone to touch it.

Finally, the shotgun with bird shot...

This is how the game is played. Everyone takes their losses, analyzes what's going sideways, and works on the weaknesses they can find.

If it weren't for the human loss... It would be an exciting field of endeavor.

I bet a Sonic Screwdriver would be effective! (Dr. Who fans, only, LOL)

that is very understated, thanks great article

Yes. The image that comes to mind are those silent Keystone Kops movies.

If one assumed they all are operating at the same time, I think the answer would be yes. ;^)
But I'm sure they don't have 10 million sets of controls or fiber optic lines either.
Imagine, an entire section of the border overwhelmed by 10 million fiber optic wires tangling up everything in sight. ;^)

If each FPV drone requires one drone operator and the Russians and Ukrainians fielded 10 million such drones in 2025, then would they collectively require 10 million drone operators?

Thank you.

Thanks, glad you liked it. Without getting too hyperbolic, the possibilities are only limited by our imaginations.

This is incredible. Thanks Robert!

Great article, Robert. Thank you. 👍👍👍