The old rules of electronic warfare are dead. Hezbollah has learned the lesson from Ukraine. They are now using fibre-optic drones to strike inside Israel. UK defence analysts are warning Whitehall this is a game-changer.
Fibre-optic cable replaces the radio link. No signal. No jamming. No detection. The drone flies on a spool of wire, like a guided missile from the 1970s but with a camera on the nose. The operator sees what the drone sees. He can fly it through a window.
This is not speculation. Israeli sources confirm several recent attacks involved drones trailing fibre. One hit a military base near Haifa. Another struck a communications tower. The damage was limited but the message is clear: Hezbollah has bypassed Israel's expensive air defence net.
Whitehall is worried. A senior defence source told me: 'We have no answer to this at present. Electronic warfare is our go-to. Take away the electronic bit and we are back to 1916.'
The Ministry of Defence is scrambling. A hastily convened meeting at the Joint Forces Command last Tuesday discussed counter-measures. Options include physical barriers, laser weapons, and even trained birds of prey. None are ready. All are expensive.
There is a political angle too. Defence Secretary John Healey is facing pressure from the military chiefs to reallocate funds from the carrier programme to drone defence. 'Carriers are lovely but they don't stop a drone hitting Porton Down,' one officer grumbled to me.
No 10 is nervous. The PM's national security adviser has asked for a weekly update on drone threats. Labour MPs from marginal seats are asking questions. The opposition is sharpening its lines.
This is not a passing fad. The technology is cheap. Fibre spools cost a few hundred pounds. The drones are off-the-shelf Chinese models. Every militia in the Middle East is watching. What works against Israel will work against British bases in Cyprus or our allies in the Gulf.
The Ukraine lesson has spread. It started with Russian EW making ordinary drones useless. The Ukrainians adapted. They spooled out fibre. Now Hezbollah has adopted the same tactic. The next step is obvious: mass production. Swarms of fibre-optic drones could overwhelm any base.
Whitehall needs a plan. Fast. The current response is disjointed. Three different branches of the military are working on solutions. There is no single lead. No urgency. That must change.
The report I have seen from Defence Intelligence is blunt. It says: 'The era of cheap, unstoppable drones is here. Adaptation is not optional. It is survival.'
Healey is due to make a statement to the Commons next week. Expect him to announce a new 'Drone Defence Taskforce'. But taskforces are for kicking the can. What is needed is money and direction. Whether No 10 has the stomach for that is another question.
For now, Hezbollah has the initiative. Israel is reacting. Whitehall is watching. And the fibre-optic spool keeps spinning.
