Take a Look at the First NDAA-Compliant Fiber-Optic FPV Drone!

The Neros Archer is the first fiber-optic FPV drone that is NDAA-compliant, and that’s not the only reason it’s turning heads. The Archer is a newly announced fiber-optic FPV drone from Neros Technologies (US) and Kela Technologies (Israel). A growing percentage of FPV drones used on the frontline are beginning to move in reverse; armies are swapping their wireless transmission systems for fiber-optics, and Neros is the first to do it in the US.

What Archer Fiber is, Beyond the Headline

Archer Fiber is not a brand-new airframe built from scratch. It is a fiber-optic variant of Neros’ existing Archer FPV platform, with the fiber link designed to plug into the base of the FPV drone.

On the fiber side, the most concrete detail out so far is cable length. Neros’ CTO told Tectonic that the current configuration is running a 5 km fiber, and the team is working on 10 km and 15 km variants targeted for early 2026. That range ceiling is the trade you make for EW resilience. The drone can only go as far as the spool allows, and carrying that spool is not free from a weight and handling standpoint.

Why Fiber-Optic FPV is Showing Up Everywhere Right Now

The basic idea is simple: instead of sending control and video data over the air, the drone runs them through a physical fiber-optic cable that unspools as the drone flies. The upside is obvious. No RF link means no RF jamming problem, and no easy RF signature for detection systems to locate.

A fiber-optic line solves the problem of radio interference, but it adds others:

• You are carrying a spool, which adds weight and costs energy.
• The fiber-optic cable can snag, tangle, or get cut.
• Fiber-Optic FPV drones are unable to do acrobatic stunts or quick maneuvers to evade bullets, so they have to take wider turns than other FPV drones.

Even with the pitfalls, fiber-optic FPV drones still have their place on the battlefield.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence has publicly discussed and demonstrated fiber-optic FPV systems, framing them as a direct response to enemy electronic warfare, and an area that needs rapid scaling.

NDAA compliance vs BlueUAS, and why Archer Fiber claims both

“NDAA-compliant” (in the drone world) is shorthand for supply-chain eligibility under federal restrictions. The goal is to keep certain foreign-sourced “critical components” out of platforms intended for U.S. government and defense use.

BlueUAS (Blue UAS Cleared List) goes a step further. DIU describes BlueUAS as a DoD-focused vetting path that maintains a cleared list of commercial systems that have gone through assessments for government use.

DroneXL’s Take

One of the more uncomfortable truths about FPV is that the skills directly transfer from civilian applications to military applications. The same tools used to teach students how to fly a 5-inch quad over a football field are also the foundation for what you are seeing in modern conflict zones.

In my classroom’s FPV program, training will typically start in a simulator. Students learn the basics of maneuvering their quad through a virtual environment, then we jump into: flying, PID tuning, filtering, ESC flashing, prop selection, and log review when something doesn’t feel right.

That is the part a lot of people outside the hobby still do not understand. FPV is not just “stick time.” It is a whole toolbox and a mindset. You learn how to make a machine behave the way you need it to behave, then you learn how to diagnose it when it does not. That same process is what scales from weekend freestyle pilots to professional operators, and yes, to what’s being used in modern warfare. The software stack is familiar, the tuning concepts are the same, and the feedback loop of test, adjust, repeat looks identical.

Archer Fiber is interesting because it takes that very “civilian” FPV ecosystem and puts a serious emphasis on reliability in a hostile spectrum. When you remove the RF link and move control and video onto fiber, you are basically saying: we expect jamming, and we are designing around it. That is exactly where the broader drone world is heading, whether it is public safety, defense, or anyone else who cannot afford to lose a link when it matters.

If you are a hobbyist reading this, do not downplay your experience. If you are an enterprise buyer or an agency, do not dismiss FPV as a toy category. The same knobs and tools that make a 5-inch quad freestyle on a football field are the foundation for the most consequential drone trend happening right now.