{"id":30180,"date":"2016-05-17T18:24:15","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T18:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2016\/05\/17\/how-swarming-drones-could-change-the-face-of-air-warfare\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:27:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:27:35","slug":"how-swarming-drones-could-change-the-face-of-air-warfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2016\/05\/17\/how-swarming-drones-could-change-the-face-of-air-warfare\/","title":{"rendered":"How Swarming Drones Could Change the Face of Air Warfare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The US Air Force on Tuesday rolled out its 20-year flight plan for small, unmanned aerial systems (UAS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force has long discussed using swarms of miniaturized drones for attack and surveillance missions, but as its adversaries build more sophisticated weapons to counter traditional platforms, the service is responding with a\u00a0new strategy to field tiny, flying bots to take down enemy defenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The strategy hinges on advancing three critical capabilities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Teaming:\u00a0two or more assets, operated by ground commanders, cooperating with one another.<\/li><li>Loyal wingman:\u00a0a host platform, for instance a manned fighter aircraft, that directs multiple small UAS.<\/li><li>Swarming: a large number of minibots that work together in a collaborative, or &#8220;meshed,&#8221; network.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Swarming technology changes the game for future warfare, according to Col. Brandon &#8220;BB&#8221; Baker, chief of the Air Force&#8217;s remotely piloted aircraft (RPA)\u00a0capabilities division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At\u00a0a rollout event at the Pentagon, Baker said\u00a0commanders can use the swarm for a single objective, like a major attack, or disperse the bots across a region for 24\/7 surveillance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Swarming drone technology may even help the Air Force save money. Instead of shooting down a $20 million Reaper UAS or a $2 billion B-2 bomber in one go, the enemy would be forced to track and kill multiple, low-value targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;You&#8217;ve really kind of messed with the adversary&#8217;s calculus in this case,&#8221; Baker said. &#8220;Now they are going to be really challenged and the advantage comes back into our favor in terms of an economic advantage.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Any one platform can be taken down by a direct hit. But a drone swarm can take multiple hits, reconfigure\u00a0and keep going, a capability Baker called &#8220;self-healing.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several examples of experimental drone platforms were on display during the event: Raytheon&#8217;s tiny Coyote, Boeing Insitu&#8217;s RQ-21 Blackjack\u00a0and Raytheon&#8217;s Silver Fox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Baker stressed that the effort is in its prerequisite\u00a0phase, and that right now the Air Force\u00a0is focused on modeling and simulation. He said he would love to see swarming drones operational by 2036, but\u00a0that he can&#8217;t project a timeline at this stage of the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lt. Gen. Robert Otto, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, stressed that this technology is in its early stages,\u00a0and that the flight plan released\u00a0Tuesday is a &#8220;vision&#8221; for future air warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We do believe that small, unmanned aerial systems will be the cornerstone of Air Force ISR as we look through the next 20 years,&#8221; Otto said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Email:\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:lseligman@defensenews.com\">lseligman@defensenews.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Twitter:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/laraseligman\">@laraseligman<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Air Force on Tuesday rolled out its 20-year flight plan for small unmanned aerial systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":66349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1820],"class_list":["post-30180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-home"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"4MCO27DYMRBU3AOJ7RDBM4RAUU","arc_canonical_url":"\/2016\/05\/17\/how-swarming-drones-could-change-the-face-of-air-warfare\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This 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