U.S. Navy swarm attacks

For decades typical new military weaponry usually meant faster, more powerful, and more accurate than the weapons being replaced. Other technology has brought entirely new weapons into the military arsenal. Potential enemies have responded to these changes by developing defensive weapons to counter these upgrades.

The U.S. Navy has been developing the concept of drone swarm attacks on enemy ships. A paper describing a drone attack on a U.S. destroyer and studying the effectiveness of defensive systems. The situation assumes attacks of up to 10 drones built from off the shelf components. The drones are small and capable of speeds up to 155 miles per hour. At that attack speed, when spotted, the small drones would be less than a mile and 15 seconds from the targeted ship. An attack of these drones will challenge defensive measures by presenting multiple targets at once, and automated weapons systems might cause multiple weapons to target one drone while other drones are not targeted at all.

Hundreds of computer simulations have been conducted with swarms of eight attacking drones. On average 2.8 out of eight drones survived the attacks. Upgrading the defenses increased the number of drones hit, but at least one drone out of every eight made it through the ship's defenses. Waves of 30 or more small drones will increase the possibility of some making it past defenses. One drone might take out the target ship's bridge or its communications ability. A swarm attack might cripple the ship with one attack which would be followed by more drones or other weapons to destroy the ship.

Timothy Chung, a researcher at the U.S. Navy Post-graduate School, is proposing that the most effective defense might be if the targeted ship could launch its own defensive swarm of drones. With manned aircraft the number lost in combat means a critical loss of aircraft and air crews. The loss of expendable unmanned drones is far less costly and far easier to recover from.

Technology is constantly changing the face of warfare and presents new weapons and tactics for military commanders to contend with.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.