Since World War II, many of the most decisive military innovations were born not in perfect laboratories, but on fronts where soldiers improvised solutions with what they had at hand. He portable radarthe commercial drones adapted or even the use adhesive tape in military equipment they emerged like this. In modern warfare, that mix of improvised inventiveness and advanced technology continues to appear where it is least expected.
In Ukraine, in fact, they are real experts on the topic.
The war of the scissors. It we count long ago. For months, the Ukrainian battlefield has shown scenes difficult to imagine in a 21st century conflict. Soldiers equipped with drones, sensors and electronic warfare systems walked through trenches with something much simpler in their pockets: some simple scissors. The reason was unexpected, of course.
Fiber optic drones (controlled by a cable that uncoils during flight) began to proliferate because they cannot be blocked by electronic interference. To neutralize them, many soldiers they started cutting any cable they found, no matter what side it was from. In some sectors of the front the ground reached to cover itself with filaments bright as cobwebs, forcing units to always carry scissors or knives to break those drones’ connections before they could attack.
The strange logic of innovation in kyiv. This improvised resource summarizes one of the most striking characteristics of this war: that extremely sophisticated systems are usually faced with solutions surprisingly simple and austere.
Thus, drones worth thousands of dollars have been shot down with shotgunsarmored protected vehicles with metal nets as if we were in the George Miller universeand defensive positions covered with mesh to confuse sensors. Even the drones themselves, which today dominate the battlefield, began as a cheap answer to much more expensive weapons. In this context, cut the control cable with scissors (or, if necessary, with your hands) became a rudimentary but effective way to neutralize one of the latest evolutions of drone warfare.
When scissors fall short. However, the same speed of adaptation that led to those improvised methods is now pushing the conflict towards much more advanced technologies. Yes, in recent months they have started to circulate videos and testimonials suggesting that Ukraine could be experimenting with directed energy systems to combat drones.
In fact, in a visual piece Widely distributed shows how a fiber optic cable is rendered useless after being hit by an intense light, which has unleashed all kinds of speculation about the use of lasers on the battlefield. There is no official confirmation that these systems are operational, but military analysts they point out that Ukraine could deploy functional laser weapons even before the United States thanks to its ability to test technologies directly in combat.
The disconcerting technological leap. If you like, the possibility that wire-controlled drones, the same ones against which soldiers carried scissors in their pockets, will begin to confront laser systems sums up the almost absurd speed with which this war evolves.
Western military programs often take years to go from the laboratory to the battlefield. In Ukraine and although it may seem like science fiction, this cycle can be reduced to months due to emergencies. It already happened with drones. The front functions like a gigantic laboratory where each enemy innovation generates an immediate response. What seems like improvisation today can become advanced technology deployed on a large scale the day after tomorrow.
The mystery of the “alien scanner”. One of the strangest examples of the apparent Ukrainian advance appeared in another recorded video by a Russian drone in ambush. The footage shows something like a square light sweeping across a road, as if scanning the terrain, before the drone signal suddenly cuts out.
Some Forbes analysts They have interpreted it as a laser capable of cutting fiber optic cables. However, a more detailed analysis perhaps suggests something different. It is more plausible that it is a Ukrainian drone equipped with a lighting or scanning system that seeks to detect cables shining on the asphalt. These cables usually reveal the presence of ambushed drones near supply routes.
The fear that brought down the drone. The final explanation aims for something less futuristic, but equally revealing. Upon detecting the light sweeping the road, the Russian operator attempted to abruptly take off his drone to escape. The motor demanded too much energy at once and burned out the electronic controller that regulates the speed of the device. In pilot jargon, the operator “burned the ESC.” The drone was disabled without any laser having touched its cable.
All in all, the episode shows something certainly important: on a front where the soldiers began cutting cables with scissorsthe mere suspicion that the enemy may use a laser It’s enough to cause panic. And that says a lot about the speed with which the war in Ukraine is jumping from improvisation to technologies that just a few years ago seemed like pure science fiction.
Image | Telegram
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