Pretty soon the US is going to have swarms of robot drones in action that are able to work together and develop their own group strategy for attack.
At the moment, every Predator and Reaper drone needs to be controlled by a human pilot and these new drone swarms are going to open up the possibility to have one pilot possibly control multiple drones.
The new drones are able to fly in unison and act as a unit, similar to those that we've seen popularized at the Superbowl and other entertainment events.
The plan for the Navy to introduce these sorts of drone swarms, came to light early this year when the Pentagon released a video of a Navy test which showed over 100 micro drones flying together in order to complete tasks.
There are a number of tiny drones being developed at the moment, there are the CICADA drones that are palm-sized, there are also Perdix drones, and others.
Eventually they hope that the drones will be able to develop their own collective strategy as they advance on the field. The Navy has referred to this swarm concept as “Motley Crew.” They expect to begin to further roll-out this technology by 2018 or 2019, according to the director of Unmanned Warfare Systems-Rear Admiral Mark Darrah .
For a nation that is already engaged in multiple unjust conflicts around the world, this technology is only going to make them even more lethal.
Critics of the drone project are concerned about how the swarms will go about selecting targets, among other worries. Are they only going to attack what they are told to attack or are they going to decide for themselves what will and won't be a target based on their own sensory data? These are some of the concerns that have been raised. One thing many don't want to see is fully autonomous swarms of militarized drones.
Pics:
R. A. Di Ieso
RT
Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-navy-locust-launcher-fire-drones-2017-4
https://defensesystems.com/articles/2017/04/17/cicada.aspx
https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/10/u-s-naval-research-laboratory-to-test-swarming-palm-sized-drones/
http://www.vocativ.com/420170/motley-crew-drone-warfare/
https://www.inverse.com/article/26211-watch-perdix-micro-drone-swarm
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38569027
http://www.uavexpertnews.com/2016/01/drone-swarms-changing-modern-warfare/
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/05/navy-research-lab-develops-cheap-swarm-glider-mini-drones/