Blyskavka Kamikaze Drone Tested with Fiber-Optic Link, but Scaling Up Has Been Put on Hold for Now

The Ukrainian company Blyskavka tested a kamikaze drone of the same name equipped with fiber-optic communication.

The company’s founder, codenamed Professor, shared this in an interview with Militarnyi.

It has also already been used in combat by a group of operators known as The Chinese from the 81st Slobozhansky Airborne Brigade.

“We’ve achieved a combat hit, and I think we’re among the first to do so. I haven’t seen anyone else do it at all,” the guest said.

The drone was first tested about 8 months ago.

“I wanted a sort of flying ATGM. I wanted to do this, and people told me it was just a ‘gimmick,’ but we do a lot of ‘gimmicks’ during testing,” the company’s founder added.

The tests at the training range were successful, and in combat conditions, one out of four drones hit the target.

The other three, however, encountered problems—for example, when the fiber-optic cable broke, and the drone lost communication.

They decided not to scale up Blyskavka using fiber-optic cables because the prices for fiber-optic cables had risen significantly.

“It’s gotten to the point where a kilometer costs not 4 bucks, but 40. I need 40 kilometers, so just do the math… the total comes out to be quite a hefty sum,” Professor explained.

He added that they’ve put this idea on hold for now, but fiber-optic prices are currently trending downward again.

Previously, the company Blyskavka has developed a new version of its Blyskavka-2 wing-type kamikaze drone.