Abstract: The explosion damage mechanism and vulnerability of the directly buried through pipe optical cable were studied. A prototype test of short-distance explosive failure of 55 kg columnar TNT bare powder sand was designed and carried out for a 60 mm diameter steel pipe penetrating GYTA33 optical cable. Test results show that when the proportional explosion distance was 0.316 m/kg, the communication function of the cable was good; when the steel pipe was obviously bending and was deformed by compression, the communication was interrupted when the proportional explosion distance was 0.263 m/kg. The critical failure proportional explosion distance of the cable in sand was between 0.263 m/kg and 0.316 m/kg. The corresponding numerical simulation calculation was carried out to analyze the failure mechanism of the through pipe cable. The results show that the local bending and radial compression deformation of the steel casing will occur under the near blast load, and the failure of the optical cable is mainly caused by the high-speed stamping of the steel casing in the initial stage of severe compression deformation.