Are the drones actually dragging around cable? Oh! Are these from guided anti-material munitions? That would make sense! I thought someone was laying fiber optics for some reason.

I wonder what the environmental impact of this is. This can't be glass, right? Plastic?

[–] shadowtofu@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I would assume/hope that it’s pretty simple to collect all the cables again? Just “walk” once across the field, pick up all the cables, roll them up, and you are done? I am kind of wondering why the operator couldn’t just roll up the cable from their side again after the end of the flight. But I can understand that that is not a priority at that point.

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There is no way these bare fibers have the tensile strength necessary that you even could drag kilometers of it back to the operator through the terrain. You need to know, these are not full cables as you would normally use them for networking, that would be to heavy for the drone. Instead it's single fiber strands without any mantle.

[–] nailbar@sopuli.xyz 2 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

They're surprisingly durable. Afaik you can't break them with your bare hands, you need something to cut them with.

[–] OvertonDoors@infosec.exchange 3 points 11 hours ago

@nailbar @Kazumara

Bare fiber (core + cladding) is quite easy to break in compression. It's brittle and prone to fracture under shear + pressure, just like any other piece of glass.

There's no intention to pick these strands up after use, it's a single use device. Once it leaves the spool it never goes back in. In the cold math of warfare a 1-way $3-5k device is worth much more than a lada filled with food and water if that delivery never makes it to the front. Moreso for an IFV, fixed artillery, AA, or drone operator.

These systems can operate as reconnaissance with reusable drones, however, the fiber spool is by design single use.

And yeah, that shit hurts when it's imbedded under your skin. And it's going to persist in the environment for years afterward. War is like that.

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 12 hours ago

Well I have never tried to deliberately break a fiber, usually my goal is to have them work when I'm done. But the bare fibers without mantle are really thin (250 micrometer is typical, 125 for core and cladding, and 125 around that for the coating) and you have to treat them carefully. I think if you bent them tight they would break. I know splicing tools have special cutters included, but my understanding was that those are only needed to make a proper 90° cut good for splicing.

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