Indian Strategic Studies: Using drone swarms with manoeuvre units
AI Analysis
The article discusses the use of drone swarms with maneuver units, highlighting the need for autonomy in swarm operations. It also references the FFI's 'Future Force' project, which explores the integration of unmanned systems in military strategies.
Key Takeaways
- Drone swarms require autonomy for effective operation.
- FFI's 'Future Force' project focuses on unmanned systems in future conflicts.
- Annual experiments, such as LandX, showcase FFI's developments in drone technology.
- FFI is developing a drone swarm behavior system and user interface.
- The study aims to integrate small drone swarms to support military units tactically.
Why It Matters
The strategic integration of autonomous drone swarms with maneuver units could significantly enhance battlefield capabilities and operational efficiency. Understanding and developing these technologies are crucial for maintaining a tactical advantage and addressing potential threats from adversaries employing similar technologies.
Indian Strategic Studies: Using drone swarms with manoeuvre units
Marius Halsør, Dan Helge Bentsen, Aleksander Skjerlie Simonsen & Håvard Stien
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Introduction
With drones playing an increasingly important part on the battlefield, it is important to examine how we best can use such assets - as well as what we need to do when we face such a threat ourselves. The simplest drones operate individually and are remote controlled, usually requiring one person (at least) to operate one drone. A more advanced utilization of drones involve swarms, consisting of many drones working together. This requires the drones to have some level of autonomy, in order to make it possible for one operator to control the entire swarm. What kind of autonomy is required to operate swarms of different sizes, how such swarms should be used to give the best impact on the battlefield, and how an operator best can control such swarms, are questions we address in this report.
FFIs project "Future Force" examines how unmanned systems may be used in future conflicts. FFI is also developing our own technology for using unmanned systems, which is showcased at annual experiments called LandX. See [1] for the experiment carried out in 2022, where uncrewed systems were the main focus. Among the things FFI is developing, is a drone swarm behaviour system and user interface. See [2] for a description of the Flamingo UAV. Our intention has been to support the development of this technology, and also to study how a swarm of small drones can be used to support a military unit on low tactical level.