it just keeps coming after you like a monster in a bad dream and there's nothing you or anyone else can do to stop them front Line doesn't normally use footage shot by the Russian military but what you're watching is evidence of a critical development on the battlefields of Ukraine which will have ramifications far beyond it's a so-called wonder weapon an unjammable drone controlled by a fiberoptic cable that electronic warfare defenses simply cannot stop and here we see proof of that hit after hit after hit the white triangles on the Ukrainian vehicles suggest they were taking part in the cursed operation inside Russia during the collapse of the cursed salient and retreat back across the border Ukrainian forces were indeed harried by these weapons but they're now being deployed in several other sectors of this existential war ukrainian soldiers we've spoken to who've been in sectors where the Russians are using these have said fatalistically if they see you if they target you that's it there's nothing you can do to stop them no jamming no electronic warfare you just got to hope for the best what you're watching is the aftermath of an attack by a new weapon that since last autumn has brought a different kind of fear to the Don best battlefield a Ukrainian army jeep has been hit and set ablaze two of the crew are already dead four wounded the survivors are being evacuated in a second vehicle which is also coming under fire help you the rescue vehicle is equipped with an electronic warfare array to jam conventional FPV kamicazi drones but in this scenario it can provide no defense because the weapon that destroyed the first chief was a fiber optic drone this is Sergeant Runa one of Ukraine's most celebrated female combat soldiers she shot the footage you've just seen this is the new weapon that is changing the battlefield in Ukraine this is a fiber optic kamicazi drone in this film we look at the rising threat of the fiber optic drone which the Russians have been using here on the Dombas front line for several months now this is why they're so feared we're given exclusive access to one of the first Ukrainian units to deploy the game-changing weapon we also journey to the crucial Karakova pocket to visit a battle scarred and under pressure marine battalion they've also been targeted by Russian fiberoptic FBVS we meet the young Marine surgeon who carried out 184 amputations in just 2 months and we learn why stray animals can be deadly on a modern battlefield this is what we saw over the last 18 months the frontline team has witnessed drone warfare's deadly technology race from the use of high street Mavics as reconnaissance machines to their adaptation as bombers and the advent of the kamicazi FPVs which changed the war again each advance in one size drone capability is usually countered by an improvement in the other's electronic warfare defenses that is the defender will try to find a means to jam the radio signals with which an attacking drone pilot controls their machine here's a Russian radiocontrolled kamicazi FPV drone that was recently jammed and taken down by our old friend Lieutenant Alex unit but what if a drone could be piloted some other way one that would prevent enemy interference that would make it unjammable so that like the pursuing creature in your nightmare like the shark in Jaws there is just no escape a drone workshop behind the Donbass front it's the usual organized chaos of bomb-making equipment and spare parts that's how the war works here but what we've really come here to see is the new type of unjammable drone that everybody's been talking about we've seen for maybe a year and a half now the effect the impact of kamicazi FPV drones but those drones are vulnerable to electronic warfare to jamming this which is being seen in increasing numbers on the battlefield the Russians in particular use them in large numbers is a drone that is controlled by fiber optic cable bool here underneath might have up to 10 km or more of the cable and it's through the cable that the drone pilot is controlling it it is unjammable in that sense and they're causing a lot of concern particularly on the Ukrainian side of the front line as you can see the Ukrainians have them as well i say this particular one has a an RPG warhead on top um the whole rig might cost um somewhere around $1,1500 and of course like its uh less sophisticated uh radiocontrolled FPV brethren it can disable or even take out uh a main battle tank which costs maybe $4 million first briefly let's outline the technology that makes the fiber drone a nightmare for the soldiers on both sides a fiber cable transmits data using light pulses through a thin strand of glass or plastic this allows high-speed data transmission over long distances with high bandwidth and minimal signal loss now have a look at this this is the fiber optic cable which controls these kamicazi drones almost gossamer thin it's a very much like uh fishing line um it can't be broken by pulling it but it can be snapped like that because it uh it contains glass which the signals travel along like tooth floss but it makes for a deadly weapon unlike an ordinary FPV the pilot always has a physical connection with the fiber optic drone basically it's like flying a kite a deadly kite with 10 km of string attached a Ukrainian military source told Frontline that drones with 20 km of cable are being tested 40 km might even be possible this is fast a fiber optic drone pilot from the 24th Brigade which has been firefighting Russian advances along various frontline sectors i ask him how the new drone works my name is Can you tell us the advantages that the fiber optic drone has over a a normal FPV [Music] [Music] optin [Music] Which means for example that a fiberoptic drone can lie in weight on the ground by a road in ambush rather than have to loiter a loft where it's vulnerable to air defense could you uh tell us a little bit about the sort of targets you would fly uh a drone like this against and what under what circumstances would you use it foreigne speech do you think these fiber optic drones will eventually completely replace the radiocontrolled FPVs [Music] [Music] and this could uh but with the ammo it could destroy a tank that might be worth $4 million [Music] [Music] it's not going to fire this thing is it let's watch a fiber optic drone take off i'm told it has to be flown smoothly no jerky changes of direction again like a kite one Ukrainian infantryman suggested to me that the best way to escape was to take cover in forest or thick undergrowth in which the fiber optic cable might get snagged that was a hopeful guess rather than a proven fact a Dombas winter's morning just as dawn is breaking we set off to reach a frontline unit which has been targeted by these new drones as the Russians push forward getting from A to B in Daeskblast gets ever more difficult to get to the Karak of a pocket from Critsk while avoiding the Pock's Russian Kamicazi drone zone you have to perform a big detour west and south via Doppilia we're not the only traffic taking this route a leopard tank is also on the way to the Garaka front the early morning light is beautiful the situation less so our destination is the 37th Separate Marine Brigade few units have had a tougher war most recently they fought in Tourette's this is from the highlights reel of their drone operators from their front line their calvary was the unsuccessful Ukrainian effort last year to force a bridge head on the eastern bank of Nepa around the village of Kinki in late 2023 the Marine Corps conducted amphibious assault landings from the western shore and took Kinky hoping to drive further in land that proved impossible the Ukrainians had to abandon their tiny Bridget in July last year after months of close quarter fighting against enormous odds on a battlefield measuring 1 km deep by 110 m wide the crinky operation officially cost the core 260 dead with a further 800 missing presumed killed according to report in other words 1,000 men were lost for a single village that could not be held an expensive diversion of death a bloody disaster otherwise last October the 37th were transferred to the Caraka front to help try to block the Russian advanc which has since overrun Caraka itself and now aims to envelop the crucial logistics hub of Picross to the north our first stop was to have been the Marine's main casualty stabilization point a stabilization point is a casualty station just behind the front line where wounded servicemen are first given medical aid by qualified doctors rather than combat medics in order to keep them alive until they reach a hospital but the Russian artillery had got there first two near misses took off the casualty station's roof destroyed equipment inside and out and left the medical staff in shock this is the second battalion's chief medic yesterday we have a big damage our stabilization point it was destroyed by artillery of our enemy our people safe uh but we have a big lose in our medical equipment medicines uh and also to ambulance was destroyed oh so has this happened to you before yes of course but we try to change location every two 3 weeks cuz in this area it's very difficult to be in safe yes and also we have to be nearby the front line and that's why we almost all the time we change location we meet at the battalion's only surviving stabilization point which turns out to be a shipping container converted into a one-bedroom emergency room under camo netting beside an abandoned cottage behind me you can see the mo mobile medical pod which is being run by the 37th Marine Brigade they're currently fighting in the Karakova pocket which is getting smaller and smaller as the Russians advance uh this is the main focus of their uh casualty station frontline medical support uh since yesterday morning when their larger more static uh medical station casualty stabilization point was hit by two Russian artillery shells uh equipment destroyed ambulances destroyed um nobody killed but it was rendered inoperable and now we have uh they have to rely on this one bed facility it's it's small snug it's well equipped but it only has one bed and this is where seriously wounded Marines are taken when uh when when they're hit in the Karaka pocket in the background you can hear constant rumble of artillery uh it's like a sort of thunderstorm and uh it shows how close the Russians are getting and how far they're advancing um the situation here is is very difficult the Marines have been in this uh sector since October last year previously you can hear the artillery again previously they were in Hersan launching uh attacks on the Russian position on the left bank using assault craft now they've been thrown into a different a different kind of problem which is trying to stop the Russians advancing beyond Karakova three things struck us about this desolate location it's very cold and very windy and above all the sound of the artillery pounding the correct of a pocket is incessant one of the frontline evacuation drivers is having a smoke you can see how cold it is it's here we meet a remarkable young combat surgeon it's very cold uh you can probably hear the art constant artillery in the background we're near the Karakova pocket uh I'm with Ilia who is a surgeon in the 37th Marine Brigade uh now Ilyia has been uh on active service uh all over the front line since the full-scale invasion ilia's war started on the first day of the full invasion February 24th 2022 when he was a civilian doctor at a hospital in Mikoliv this onslaught produced a remarkable and macar statistic at the end of that year Ilia joined the Marines since then his amputation times have improved dramatically on the Tourette's front he worked in a pooling conditions here in Dombas he labors under the severe drone threat the Russians particularly want to kill medics like him okay it's too cold to stand around outside we're invited into the temporary medic headquarters for a coffee coffee machine this is a This is a marine coffee machine if he can amputate a limb in 25 minutes he can make a cup of coffee in 30 [Music] seconds he does everything quickly you can't help but notice how many cats mostly strays are drawn to the medical post when I remark on this I'm told a rather chilling tale abandoned pets are drawn to humans so if Ukrainian drone pilots operating over Crinky saw strays gathered near a particular cottage they would always check if it was being held by their comrade if not they would call in an artillery or kamicazi drone strike because if not occupied by Ukrainians the cottage must be occupied by the Russians war is hell thank you we move on through the frontline hinterland to second battalion's underground combat headquarters the journey is increasingly difficult and nerve-wracking because Russian drones dominate the skies our military escort Dennis likes to listen to Gothic death folk metal this is desolate country nerve-wracked by the threat of drones and heavy artillery not a place to get lost did I tell you I never like gothic folk metal this journey just confirmed it those construction works we reach our destination having checked with the Marines that the sky overhead is clear of Russian drones we can't share the entrance or location of course though the command post never stays in one place for more than a month suffice to say it's a bunker complex within a tree line on a ridge overlooking a wide valley close to Carakov we're descending into the bunker which way do they go right thank you it's a slightly claustrophobic maze of wooden wall tunnels lined with gray sheeting hi our journey has been stressful tempers have become a little fray yeah hurry up cuz they are trying to run the war [Music] but the monitors are mesmerizing here is the desperate battle for the crack of a pocket being played out in real time filmed by dozens of drones and transmitted to a hole in a ground a few miles away this is Major Anatoli commander of second battalion and this space is where he and his staff control their unit sector of the front line the Marines are in a very tough situation hemmed in on three sides by an enemy that is superior in every respect except determination on their monitors they can watch not only footage captured by their own drones but the footage captured by Russian UAVs here as everywhere along the front line drone warfare is crucial to the overall situation we watch as one monitor shows an attack drone on its bombing run [Music] the drone footage we've been watching is Russian not Ukrainian anymore what is happening is not good fore machine he tells me the Russians have brought in another new brigade to face his battalion for a while the pressure will increase until the new Russian unit begins to appreciate their low chances of survival meanwhile the Marines must hold on and it's become increasingly difficult to resupply frontline positions because of the drone threat the major points to abandoned trucks that can be seen on one of the monitors the major recalls the slaughter at Kinky when they last fought as true Marine infantry [Music] but then the conversation turns to the new weapon that we're hearing so much about fore foreign foreign what is aggressive foreign forchech one of the Russian fiber optic drone units goes by the name of judgment day the Marines are also about to adopt the unjammable drone [Music] the importance of this new weapon was made clear in early April when Ukrainian drones struck 700 km inside Russia their target was the only domestic plant that makes fiber optic cables for the kamicazi drones it's time for us to go first the Marines check that the sky overhead is clear of Russian drones are we okay to go but nowhere is safe driving away from the Kurakova pocket we pass the wreckage of another drone victim and with the arrival of fiber optic FPVs that threat will only increase