Under a new contract the Pentagon will acquire drones with sophisticated swarming capability incorporating lessons learned from intense drone warfare in Gaza.
which includes multiple types of drone flown by AI pilots working together under the control of a single human operator.Combat Experience Drove AI Pilots And Drone NestsShapira says they quickly discovered that there was little opportunity to train soldiers on the use of new drones, especially in a force composed largely of reservists.
This was solved with drones which essentially fly themselves, with what Shapira calls an AI pilot. This flies the drone autonomously, planning the flight path and avoiding obstacles. The operator does not require piloting skills.and hit targets, without the weeks-long training processes normally required. The idea is that this turns every operator into an FPV ace. The AI pilot also solves the problem of latency, the communications lag between drone and operator, so drones can be flow via satellite and other long-distance communication. The drones also have a number of AI-enabled smart behaviors for tasks like searching, providing what is described as “battle-proven performance.”The developers also discovered early on that soldiers were overloaded with gear and could not easily carry all the drones, batteries, drone munitions and other equipment they wanted as well as well.as we see in Ukraine, the drones operate remotely from Nests. A Nest may be a mobile unit carried by a personnel carrier or uncrewed ground vehicle, a robot boat or a helicopter or other. Nests may also be static, pre-positioned units with automated systems to change batteries and attach munitions to drones. There are“We put the emphasis on remote applications,” says Shapira. “We have the biggest advantage where the drones are operated far from people.” With this setup, Shapira says, “distance is not an issue,” a great benefit to the Special Forces teams who will operate the new drones.In a typical mission the operator would use a team of drones to investigate a building occupied by terrorists. The operator views the building from a distance with the camera on a, a large multipurpose type which can also act as a carrier, while other drones remain in holding patterns or wait for the order to launch. The software automatically identifies items of interest including vehicles, people and doors and windows in buildings. The operator identifies a suitable entry point such as a window in an upper floor and clicks on it. A, optimized for flying indoors, then enters via the breach, and the operator switches to the Xtenders viewpoint, directing it as it goes through the building looking for terrorists. This sort of flying is challenging for a human pilot, but the AI pilot flying the drone can easily negotiate indoor spaces without crashing. Other drones watching the exits will alert the operator to any activity, allowing them to focus on the main task.If the Xtender makes contact, the operator can call on more drones to investigate or strike as appropriate. The use of multiple different types of drones able to carry out a range of different tasks is what makes the group ‘multi-dimensional’. The mission may also include ground robots and other types of flying drone. Shapira says that while term swarm has somewhat negative connotations, ‘drone swarm’ may be more descriptive than the bland ‘drone team.’While the software is central to XTENDs work, the new contract also includers some significant hardware not found on other drones., cannot be jammed and so are immune to electronic warfare. They can also operate underground and in tunnels where radio waves cannot reach. The downside is that the fiber reel adds weight, and the fiber link imposes some restrictions on maneuverability, so XTENDs system makes it optional.Electronic Safe and Arm Device which gives a high level of safety on the munitions carried. In Ukraine, many operators are killed in accidents with improvised munitions. Aviva says the high-voltage ESAD certification, which took two years in the U.S., makes their system unique. The drones can carry a variety of swappable munitions, including anti-personnel, anti-vehicle, breaching charges, flash-bang ‘distraction devices,’ non-lethal rounds and inert training warheads.The new system is well ahead of earlier drones thanks to advances in AI. “Smaller processors have helped us make a huge leap in autonomy. Now we can tell a swarm to go to these co-ordinates, find a target that looks like a rocket launcher, for example, and report back. That was not possible two years ago,” says Shapira., where the drone has a limited autopilot, to Level 4 where the swarm can carry out entire missions on its own. Further advances in processors by suppliers like NVIDIA will bring increasing capability to smaller drones at lower cost. On the software development side, XTEND works with ten supplier companies producing advanced AI software for their systems. These are adding new and more sophisticated behaviors for combat missions in response to user demands. But this is all in the service of the operator controlling the swarm. While the operator may not be piloting individual drones, they are still very much in control of the mission.
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Pentagon Acquires Combat Proven ‘Multi-Dimensional Drone Swarm’Under a new contract the Pentagon will acquire drones with sophisticated swarming capability incorporating lessons learned from intense drone warfare in Gaza.
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