Footage from last week’s attacks on the Russian ports of Tuapse and Novorossiysk shows a Ukrainian unmanned surface vessel carrying several fiber-optic drones in fold-out compartments along its hull, Forbes reports.The publication notes that the fiber-optic connection allows drones to fly without radio signals, making them immune to electronic jamming, one of the biggest threats in modern drone warfare.This is the first recorded use of fiber-optic drones launched from the sea. Until now, Ukraine has used unmanned aerial vehicles, which are resistant to jamming, primarily on land.However, mounting them on offshore platforms extends their range far beyond the coastline, making each such ship a mobile drone carrier.It is noted that Ukraine hinted at this possibility back in December 2024. At that time, the Ukrainian Navy published a video showing naval drone carriers launching FPV attack drones from internal compartments. These drones were installed on Magura-class unmanned naval vessels.The modified hulls are believed to have had hatches that opened into the sea, allowing FPV drones to take off. They are likely protected from salt water and weather conditions.”Given the Ukrainian Navy’s limited human resources, the country relies on cheap unmanned systems designed for efficient use and single-use,” noted Cornell University autonomous systems expert Gregory Falco.The article states that both Ukraine and Russia are currently experimenting with ways to increase the range of their drones, particularly conventional FPV and fiber-optic variants that are resistant to jamming. “The potential of these drones has largely reached its peak, but integrating them with other systems, such as naval drone carriers, land platforms, or airborne launchers, opens up new possibilities,” says defense analyst and author of the Ukraine’s Arms Monitor newsletter, Olena Kryzhanovskaya.Open-source weapons analyst Roy Gardiner believes this innovation could change the dynamics of the war in the Black Sea.”Fiber-optic FPVs carried on naval drone carriers, such as the one discovered near Krasnodar, enable successful strikes against land or sea targets, regardless of electronic countermeasures,” Gardiner said.He added that marine fiber-optic FPV is particularly suitable for more remote targets such as Tuapse and Novorossiysk.Heiner Philipp, an engineer with Technology United for Ukraine, noted that while drones can be shot down with guns, they can also be disabled by cutting the fiber optic cable mid-flight with simple tools such as scissors or knives.The article states that the appearance of a fiber-optic carrier drone near Krasnodar, as well as a Magura kamikaze drone off the coast of Turkey, indicates that Ukraine’s unmanned flotilla is now operating across almost the entire Black Sea.”Ukrainian drone developers are currently leaders in the creation of various types of drones for various missions, and this experience is unparalleled even in the most developed economies and industries in the world,” said Samuel Bendett, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.