| | | ...mothership drones fly low and made from radar absorbing materials......fiber optic attack drones fly very low ...invisible to radar...........first sign of attack is often the KABOOM!
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In an entirely aerial approach from the Odesa region to Crimea, the operation relies on a "Carrier-Borne" or "Mothership" strategy. Since a fiber-optic cable cannot span the ~180 km distance from the Odesa coast to Crimea, a large long-range aircraft does the heavy lifting.
The Aerial "Mothership" Architecture By 2025, Ukraine has increasingly used fixed-wing "mothership" drones to bypass Russian electronic warfare (EW) bubbles in Crimea.
- Stage 1: The Long-Range Flight (Odesa to Crimea Perimeter) A large fixed-wing drone, such as the GOGOL-M (which has a 20-foot wingspan) or a modified Lyutyi, flies from the Odesa region across the Black Sea. These drones have operational ranges between 300 km and 1,000 km, allowing them to reach any point in Crimea.
- Control: They use satellite links (Starlink/Starshield) or high-altitude radio relays to stay connected to pilots in Odesa.
- Payload: Instead of a traditional bomb, the belly of the aircraft houses one or more fiber-optic FPV strike drones.
- Stage 2: The Air-to-Ground Deployment As the mothership approaches a high-value target (like an S-400 radar battery or a hidden command bunker), it releases the fiber-optic drone from an altitude of several hundred meters.
- The Connection: The fiber-optic cable unspools from the strike drone and remains physically tethered to the mothership flying above, not to the ground in Odesa.
- The Relay: The mothership acts as a flying "router." It receives the jam-proof video from the fiber drone and transmits it back to Odesa via satellite.
Capabilities & Range Breakdown
| Metric | Aerial Mothership (Fixed-Wing) | Attached Fiber-Optic Drone | | Origin Point | Odesa Region / Rear Airfields | Released from Mothership | | Transit Range | 300 km – 1,000 km | 15 km – 50 km (from release point) | | Altitude | 300 – 2,000 meters | 0.5 – 100 meters | | EW Resistance | Satellite/Frequency Hopping | 100% Jam-Proof (Fiber) |
Export to Sheets
Why This Method is Used for Crimea- Terrain Masking: A fiber-optic drone can fly extremely low (less than 1 meter above the ground) to stay under Russian radar.
- Zero-Latency Targeting: Unlike satellite-controlled drones which can have a slight delay, the fiber link provides the instantaneous feedback needed to fly a drone through a specific window or under a bridge.
- Bypassing "Bubbles": Major Russian installations in Crimea (like the Sevastopol naval base) are protected by "EW bubbles" that sever all radio and GPS signals. The fiber-optic drone, having a physical wire to the mothership flying outside the jammed zone, remains fully controllable.
Recent Strategic Milestones (2025)- Deep Strike Record: Ukrainian forces have successfully used this "air-launch" method to strike targets up to 300 km behind the front lines, effectively putting all of occupied Crimea at risk from jam-proof precision munitions.
- Autonomous Navigation: New motherships like the GOGOL-M utilize AI-driven "SmartPilot" systems, allowing them to navigate to the drop zone without GPS, further hardening them against Russian countermeasures.
Would you like more technical details on the specific fixed-wing platforms used as carriers, such as the Veresen or the GOGOL-M? |
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