A special division of the Strategic Capabilities Office has experienced the first swarm of robotic locusts. The advanced tests were carried out last summer, in Alaska, when a fighter released the small drones that once in flight started to "look for themselves" forming a swarm.
The Pentagon has allocated twenty million dollars for the "Perdix" program. 150 the tests carried out to date, with 72 releases from the F-15 and F-16 fighters. The micro-drones can also be launched from the ground. In the video released by the Pentagon a micro-UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) is dropped from an F-16 at two thousand feet altitude. The micro drone descends gently thanks to a parachute before explaining the wing surfaces and turning on the small thrust rotor. The tested drone weighed a kilo.
The Perdix falls within the ambitious Avatar Project, aimed at the total integration of the fifth generation systems with the previous ones (in this case robotic swarms released and guided on board an F-16). Integration is provided for both F-22 platforms Raptor and F-35 than for the F-16 and F / A-18 Hornet in a concept known in the Air Force as 'Wingman Loyal'.
Although the tests started in the 2014, those carried out in the past summer and classified are considered by the Pentagon as "a milestone in the development of robotic locusts".
The idea behind the robotic swarm is the school of fish or the flock of birds. They function just as such thanks to what the Pentagon calls the “living brain”. Thanks to simple instructions, the micro drones interact with each other. Recognizing each other, they begin to aggregate, continuing to fly as if they were a single system. The latter is designed to disperse according to the operational context.
The "swarm warfare" is a new asymmetric tactic developed by the US Navy. Specifically, it is based on the ability to attack an X vector with dozens of low-cost drones. The first elaboration of the new reference doctrine goes back to the 2012 in a document entitled "UAV Swarm Attack" written by the Naval Postgraduate School.
The imagined scenario is the following: what would happen if a swarm of low-cost drones attacked a modern warship? "A US Navy destroyer is attacked by five to ten drones simultaneously: they come from all directions. Visibility is good. The drones are secretly controlled from a remote location located in a nearby fishing boat. Some drones are guided on sight, others are equipped with radars. The air defense system Aegis it is one of the best in the world, with an integrated suite of sensors and weapons. He is considered able to reset all kinds of threats with his missiles and cannons from 20 millimeters. But not the one formed by a swarm of drones. The reason? At the time such an asset was considered science fiction ”.
Aegis it was not designed to deal with this threat. The small drones have a tiny radar signature. Once identified, they cannot be engaged by missiles or cannons because they are too close together. "The result is that the system Aegis he cannot influence an attack carried by a swarm of drones to his advantage ”.
It has been estimated that between the detection and impact of drones, even the most powerful US Navy ship would have a reaction time of 15 seconds. "The defenders on board should choose a different target from the others: only in this way could they hope to limit the damage". Exactly, just limit. "On hundreds of simulations carried out, in an attack carried by eight drones, there is an average of 2,8 UAVs that always manage to hit the target. This means that it makes more sense to attack a ship with a large number of low-cost drones than with a missile. "
The Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology - LOCUSTA, aims to create a swarm of war formed by thirty drones completely automated at the same cost of a single missile, about 1,2 million dollars.
Considering evolution, parallel programs such as theAerial Combat Swarms, which involves the use of swarms for self-defense against other enemy drones.
(images: The Washington Post)
