# Are Regular FPV's in Ukraine Being Replaced?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD1fVnIlJ-Q

[00:06] The difference between this monster and this hobby drone is really nothing.
[00:11] It's the size of the motors.
[00:13] It's the size of the parts.
[00:14] And that's a lot of the reason why RF FPVs, that the ones that began in 2023, were used so much in the battlefield and they're still being used today.
[00:22] But as of recently, we're seeing a replacement happen where fiber optics and AI-driven drones are taking over the battle space.
[00:28] They're accounting for about 30% of the strikes that are happening in Ukraine.
[00:32] We've all seen the footage of the middle strike drones hitting the logistics, completely taking over the battlefield right now.
[00:36] We see the nets of fiber optic cable covering the tree lines, covering the forest.
[00:40] So, is this upcoming technology that is fixing the problems in the countering up today?
[00:46] Is that replacing the standard FPVs we grew so used to?
[00:48] Now, the first comparison we can make is the Lewis gun.
[00:52] And of course, the Lewis gun is a lot like the machine guns we have today.
[00:55] It's weightier, it has a different cooling system, which is kind of cool, but it not only made sense at the time, but it's still being used today, over 100
[01:02] years later.
[01:02] And it's because it works.
[01:04] It's practical for a stationary position.
[01:06] But I do want to acknowledge a couple points, which is that fiber optics, they fix a major countering problem that we've had for the last 20 years, which is jamming.
[01:13] We've been using jammers as backpacks, store systems, or on on the back of trucks in order to jam out IEDs that were initiated by cell phone or by radio control.
[01:22] So, when fiber optics were first introduced in 2024 during Kursk, when the Russians pushed Ukraine out of Russia, it was with fiber optics.
[01:30] The biggest thing that people are missing, something I I've witnessed this last year as I'm going around different countries, talking about drones, teaching about drones, is that the future of warfare isn't decided by what works best tactically, it is decided by supply chains.
[01:43] And right now, the high-tech drone market is experiencing a catastrophic supply chain collision with other industries that need that technology for themselves, as well as we can't rely on China.
[01:52] A fiber optic drone requires a a wire, and it sits right underneath the drone here and it spools back to the operator.
[01:58] And it has to do that at 100 km/h without snapping.
[02:03] because of the staggering consumption rate of these fiber optics that are usually one-way drones, in 2025 fiber optic drone consumption was burning through 50 to 60 million kilometers of the specific fiber optic cable every year.
[02:16] And And this is only going to go up.
[02:17] And this is something I I've experienced as well.
[02:18] Everybody's wondering where fiber optic cable is.
[02:19] And the problem isn't we need a lot of wire, it's that other companies need as well.
[02:24] These AI data centers, they these big companies, Google, Microsoft, Meta, they all need this exact same bend insensitive fiber to wire their massive new AI data centers, which is a large part of our economy right now, whether you like it or not.
[02:37] And this dual demand has triggered what industry insiders are calling a glass famine.
[02:40] And in 2023, before all these AI data centers, before fiber optic drones, a kilometer of this fiber costed $2.5.
[02:48] Not even, it was $2.20.
[02:51] But by 2026, the same wire costs now $35 per kilometer.
[02:54] So this wire that the fiber optics are using, it used to be 300 bucks for a 20 km spool.
[02:59] But nowadays, that same spool is costing
[03:03] $2,500.
[03:07] This is an 800% price increase for a consumable item that gets destroyed on every single flight.
[03:11] And then this carries us into the AIFPV reality.
[03:17] When people picture AI swarms, they're thinking, okay, this is going to be from Anduril.
[03:22] It's going to be from these giant companies.
[03:24] The reason Ukraine and Russia are using the drones that they're using right now is that they can make them quick, dirty, cheap.
[03:29] So my opinion and when it comes to a military that isn't the US or China, we can't be relying on purely AI drones.
[03:35] And I think where the confusion comes from is that a lot of people think you can just put anything you want on this drone.
[03:39] Put everything.
[03:40] Put the fiber optic, put the AI, and it's going to be the best drone ever.
[03:43] And it's true.
[03:45] But how much hardware is going to have to go on this?
[03:46] How much bigger will the motors need to be in order to put that hardware on it?
[03:48] So what we found in the Ukraine war is that the simplest design is oftentimes the best.
[03:54] It's the easiest, it's the cheapest, and that's what makes the cut.
[03:55] How quickly can you feel these things?
[03:57] So, given that in the defense of AI, the technology to put on drones is getting smaller, it's getting cheaper, such as the TFL-1, which is from Ukrainian
[04:05] startup, which uses a simple computing chip and a basic optical sensor that snaps right into a standard FPV.
[04:10] It only costs $100.
[04:12] And what it does is it becomes a hybrid of being human powered and then AI.
[04:17] So, the human flies it out to within a kilometer of the target, and then once he's close to it, within visual range, he marks on the screen where he wants the drone to go to, and then it finishes that last kilometer, which is cool.
[04:27] I think that's great.
[04:29] I think that functionality is within that price range really good.
[04:31] And it raises the strike success rate from 10 to 20% to 70 to 80%, which is incredible for that price point.
[04:38] But once again, it is not getting away from the RF.
[04:40] Like it is still piloted by RF.
[04:42] It's still the simple drone.
[04:44] And I think what that company's doing right is they're not getting rid of the RF capability.
[04:48] They're not getting rid of the nitty-gritty, I can make this drone into whatever I need.
[04:53] They're not making proprietary parts that you have to buy, and it's going to be triple the price, quadruple the price.
[04:57] They're making something you can slap on your drone and make it more effective on the battlefield.
[05:01] So, what is the cost of better?
[05:03] Well, I think the best way is to look at the Patriot interceptor.
[05:04] We all
[05:06] know the difference between those two.
[05:07] We've heard it all over the news, with Iran, with Ukraine.
[05:11] This is an interceptor.
[05:13] If I were to put a shell right here and orient the camera upwards, it's now an interceptor.
[05:17] It can go 400 km/h.
[05:19] That's how simple it is.
[05:20] That's how it's able to get to that price of 2,500 bucks.
[05:22] It's really easy to make.
[05:24] And that's exactly what we have to remember.
[05:26] No matter what you add onto the drone, the simplest, which is often the cheapest idea, is going to be the best hands down.
[05:31] If you can make the same product for cheaper, that's what people are going to choose.
[05:33] That's what people are going to want.
[05:35] And that's what you're going to be able to fight prolonged wars with.
[05:39] So, why do the basic FPVs, why are they the ones that Ukraine is still turning towards?
[05:43] That's why Russia is still using them, by the large majority, 70% plus.
[05:47] Well, you can get the parts on Alibaba today.
[05:49] This is a combat drone, part for part the same one I used in Ukraine.
[05:53] And I built it a year ago, right here.
[05:55] I built it here in my home.
[05:57] I've dropped bombs with this thing.
[05:58] I've trained with this thing.
[06:00] I've crashed it.
[06:02] I've upgraded it.
[06:03] And everything's been fine.
[06:05] Everything works perfectly.
[06:07] It's reusable.
[06:09] There's no reason to add on any other parts to this thing.
[06:11] It's perfect.
[06:10] You don't need to put an AI chip into this.
[06:08] compete for expensive wire with these drones.
[06:13] You don't need a massive factory to produce a bunch of these.
[06:17] You can make it yourself.
[06:17] You can make 20 of them a day.
[06:19] That's what we were doing.
[06:20] And volume is what it's all about.
[06:22] You know, in 2024, which is this seems so long ago, but it's pretty recently, 2 million drones.
[06:26] That's how many FPVs that Ukraine made.
[06:28] And that is a lot of drones.
[06:29] And Ukraine is only going on an exponential curve with that as they start to export these drones to foreign militaries that want that same quantity of drones without wasting a bunch of money on their startups and their military programs that are just eating up the money.
[06:42] It's It doesn't make any sense.
[06:44] They don't have to negotiate with anybody.
[06:45] Like I said at the beginning, the Lewis gun was taken over by M4s and AKs [music] and and M240s, but it never truly went away.
[06:53] It's still being used because it's still useful and it works and it's cheap.
[06:57] We already have it.
[06:57] And that is the same reasoning behind still using RF FPVs.
[06:59] Of course, there's jamming.
[07:01] Of course, it's not going to be the most accurate, but it does the job.
[07:05] And the price ratio of five RF FPVs versus one
[07:11] fiber optic, in a lot of ways with being proven on the battlefield, it's better to have these five drones.
[07:17] Five tries at this target rather than just one.
[07:22] And that is all I want to say today.
[07:24] Um that's my perspective, you know, I think it's uh data driven.
[07:27] And we're going to see where the the future goes.
[07:29] Of course, there's going to be AI swarms, you know, that's coming.
[07:31] That's going to be fielded in any legitimate military from here on out.
[07:33] Of course, there's going to be fiber optic drones.
[07:35] That's not going to away.
[07:36] If there's a lot of jamming, that's the perfect solution for it.
[07:39] But RF drones, they're always going to be useful no matter what.
[07:41] In order to power these jammers, it takes a lot of batteries, and the batteries run out on the battlefield.
[07:45] And it's hard to resupply them with gasoline.
[07:46] We've killed a lot of Russians while I was in my unit that were trying to deliver gasoline to power these jammers to get rid of the RF.
[07:52] It was insane.
[07:54] So, that's all I have to say.
[07:55] You can put anything you want on this.
[07:57] You can put GPS.
[07:59] You can put uh a better camera.
[08:01] You can put better motors.
[08:03] But, the reason that we went with this simple design, a mass-manufactured 3115 motor, analog video, a a nice VTX, a couple fishing line droppers, which made in the bombing mechanism, it's because it works.
[08:10] That's
[08:13] about it.
[08:14] That's all I want to say, you know.
[08:14] Simple is a lot of times better.
[08:16] So, thank you for listening.
[08:18] Hope you guys learned something, and I'll see you guys in the next one.
[08:19] Peace.
[08:25] I don't know what that is.