A project called MASS (“manufacturing of autonomous systems at scale”) is using 3D printing and digital design tools to create low-cost drones in large numbers. Expendable swarming drones will need to be far more affordable to be fielded in large numbers. The US Army pays around $49,000 for each of its small portable drones, known as Rucksack Portable Unmanned Aircraft Systems. But these only involved one or two vehicles, whereas DEALRS aims to transport and launch “extremely large numbers” of small drones without human intervention.Īnother Super Swarm sub-project seeks to overcome a fundamental problem of military hardware: cost.

Two US drone makers, Kratos and General Atomics, have already demonstrated bigger drones launching smaller ones. One aspect of DEALRS is working on so-called marsupial systems or motherships: larger uncrewed aircraft carrying multiple smaller drones. The 13-pound Raytheon Coyote used in the LOCUST program, for example, can cruise for only two hours at 50 miles per hour, so it needs to hitch a ride.Īnother project, DEALRS (for “deployment and employment of autonomous long-range systems”), seeks to overcome this challenge. But drone swarms still struggle with the problem of limited range. The Navy’s plans in the budget document include swarms launched from ships, submarines, aircraft, and ground vehicles, in what they term “multi-domain operations.” The drones will have a variety of payloads: some might carry sensors, some will have jammers or other electronic warfare gear, and some will have warheads. “The drone swarm could attack from multiple angles, aiming to damage or destroy critical systems like radar antennas, deck guns, and weapons systems,” says Kallenborn. That means they would be used in different ways, taking advantage of their high precision. Even in a real mission, Kallenborn notes, the drones would carry just a few pounds of explosive each, compared with the 488-pound warhead on a Harpoon anti-ship missile. In April last year a Navy drone swarm carried out an attack on a ship in a war game exercise for the first time. That project, named LOCUST (for “low-cost UAV swarming technology”), now falls under the bigger Super Swarm mission. The same approach has been used by Russia against Ukrainian cities in recent days. The idea is that the drones carry explosive warheads for kamikaze attacks, making them into miniature cruise missiles. In 2017 it demonstrated a swarm of 30 drones flying together. The US Navy has already made considerable progress in this area.

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