The war in Ukraine has increased demand for fiber-optic drones, whose cables resist electronic jamming, but their supply is threatened by the boom in artificial intelligence data centers. Ukraine contracted 374,000 fiber-optic FPV drones in 2025 and received 352,000 since July 2025; they accounted for 70% of the Ukrainian National Guard’s fleet in September 2026, compared with about 20% previously. Competition from military buyers and the AI industry, combined with China’s concentration of production, has driven prices higher: some 50-kilometer spools rose from $300 to $2,500, while Chinese fiber prices increased by 75% in January 2026. Ukrainian manufacturers now wind fiber locally, seek alternative suppliers and test spools of up to 40 kilometers, but this has not reduced their dependence on China or the operational impact of the cable’s added weight.
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