ONR conducts swarming UAV demonstrations
The US Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) has conducted demonstrations of swarming unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the navy announced on 14 April.
The demonstrations were part of the Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology (LOCUST) programme, to launch swarming UAVs to autonomously overwhelm an adversary. The programme includes a tube-based launcher to launch the UAVs in rapid succession. Information-sharing between the aircraft is used for autonomous collaborative behaviour in offensive or defensive missions.
The UAVs and launcher have a small footprint, allowing them to be deployed from ships, aircraft, tactical weapons or other unmanned platforms.
The ONR demonstrations took place over multiple locations in March 2015. They included the launch of Coyote UAVs and a demonstration of nine UAVs that completed autonomous UAV synchronisation and formation flight.
According to the navy, UAVs reduce hazards and free up personnel to perform more complex tasks. They also reduce the number of people performing multiple missions. UAVs offer cost benefits too, with hundreds of small UAVs costing less than one tactical aircraft.
Lee Mastroianni, programme manager, ONR, said: 'The recent demonstrations are an important step on the way to the 2016 ship-based demonstration of 30 rapidly launched autonomous, swarming UAVs.'
He added: 'This level of autonomous swarming flight has never been done before.
'UAVs that are expendable and reconfigurable will free manned aircraft and traditional weapon systems to do more, and essentially multiply combat power at decreased risk to the warfighter.'
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