Title A New Type of War-Related Pollution: Fiber-Optic Drone Tether Debris and War-Derived Polymer Microfibers
Author(s) Dmitry Nikolaenko
Affiliation Pollution and Diseases
Country Czech Republic, RSA, Ukraine
Contribution type Conceptual paper
Thematic area • War and Soil Systems
Conference framework connection • Analytical Track AT-01 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-02 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-03 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-04 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-05 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-06 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-07 — provisional title to be defined
Abstract Contemporary drone warfare is creating environmental materials that do not fit established categories of military debris or conventional plastic pollution. This paper introduces fiber-optic drone tether debris (FODTD) as a new source-category of war-related contamination. Fiber-optic-guided drones use long polymer-coated optical tethers to resist electronic warfare and signal jamming. After use, loss, or destruction, these tethers may remain dispersed across soils, vegetation, agricultural fields, peri-urban areas, and post-conflict landscapes. The paper argues that FODTD should be treated not as incidental battlefield litter, but as a distinct environmental object. Its significance lies less in acute toxicity than in persistence, filamentous morphology, diffuse spatial distribution, and long-term interaction with soils, vegetation, land use, and co-occurring contaminants. The paper also introduces the concept of war-derived polymer microfibers (WDPM), understood as possible micro-scale transformation products of weathered and fragmented drone tethers. Ukraine provides an early large-scale setting for observing this emerging contamination pathway. Recognizing FODTD and WDPM is important for visual mapping, material characterization, soil and vegetation sampling, environmental monitoring, and post-conflict land recovery planning.
Key points ● Fiber-optic-guided drone warfare produces a new filamentous source-category of war-related environmental contamination: fiber-optic drone tether debris (FODTD).● The environmental relevance of FODTD lies less in acute toxicity than in persistence, linear morphology, spatial dispersion, and physical interaction with soils, vegetation, land use, and co-occurring contaminants.● Weathering and fragmentation of FODTD may generate war-derived polymer microfibers (WDPM), creating a long-term contamination pathway that requires dedicated monitoring and post-conflict assessment protocols.
Keywords fiber-optic drone tether debris; FODTD; war-derived polymer microfibers; WDPM; drone warfare; war-related pollution; filamentous contamination; soil contamination; microplastics; post-conflict landscapes; Ukraine; war ecology; environmental monitoring
Main discussion question How should environmental science, soil science, and post-conflict assessment frameworks recognize and monitor new forms of war-related pollution generated by contemporary drone technologies, particularly fiber-optic drone tether debris and its possible transformation into war-derived polymer microfibers?
OJS publication link https://pollution-diseases-ojs.org/index.php/pd/article/view/22
Note. Analytical TracksIn addition to the main thematic areas, the conference programme will include several cross-cutting analytical tracks. These tracks will be defined during the preparation of the programme, based on the submitted abstracts and the emerging links between presentations.At the preliminary stage, abstracts may be assigned to provisional analytical tracks marked as AT-01 to AT-07. Final track titles will be announced after the Scientific Committee has reviewed the submitted materials.