> Electronic warfare/directed energy usually fits the bill for the smaller drone threat profile.
Down a rabbit hole last night and I saw that fiber-optic drones are the new thing in battle to evade electronic (radio) warfare. They literally spool out fiber optic line and are (obviously) limited in range to the length of fiber they carry. (But this can be 10,000 feet or so?)
That is to evade interference with the network link. AFAIK, the radio tech used is not designed to withstand modern denied environments, which makes it more vulnerable. The fiber optics are a cheap way of addressing that tactically and it is proven tech — a lot of older anti-tank guided missiles are controlled the same way.
Sophisticated electronic warfare systems are designed to affect much more than the communications link; they have to be effective against systems where the RF link tech is designed to survive heavy EW environments (such as what the US uses). EW and countermeasures are designed to attack the onboard systems themselves, since they are intended to be effective against fully autonomous systems that are not being controlled over a network link.
The largest fiber optic guided drones in common use now have ranges up to 20km but that takes a big spool of cable and there's a high risk of breakage. Most though have shorter ranges of 10km or less.
To point out the obvious, free-space optical broadcasts your position to the enemy. It is also notoriously subject to interference i.e. something blocking line of sight.
Down a rabbit hole last night and I saw that fiber-optic drones are the new thing in battle to evade electronic (radio) warfare. They literally spool out fiber optic line and are (obviously) limited in range to the length of fiber they carry. (But this can be 10,000 feet or so?)