Raytheon, a notable US contractor is part of the leading firms involved in the process. Many generals believe the future of warfare is in the use of small drones in swarms.
A new DARPA project has been trying to create small infantry tactical tools. As a result, a group of defense contractors including Raytheon have been engaged in a process to create technology which could help with controlling small aerial drones.
The US war planners and authorities have been trying to shift to the autonomous use of equipment in combat. As a result, they have engaged with several contractors to develop drones and robots which can do various dangerous work without the involvement of humans. The shift in plan and strategy is also being implemented in Russia and Israel.
However, the US has been actively increasing the manufacture and development of military robots. The US army just recently did a lot of tests which included autonomous vehicles. In their tests, they used some unmanned weaponry on board the equipment. This is in line with what one Army general said some few years ago. Speaking to the media at the time, the general noted that at least a quarter of the American troops by autonomous machines, or remote controlled ones by the year 2030.
Swarm drones benefits
On its own, Raytheon has been involved in the creation of drone swarms for some years now. The company participated in the 2015 planned office of Naval Research LOCUST program. In the program, they managed to successfully network the 30 UAVs in one swarm. Many of the war strategists believe it is better to use tactical drones in swarms because it makes them difficult to defend against. Also at the same time, they would be easier and cheaper to procure.
Compared to the jet fighters and tanks, they are best to have. It is also easy to consolidate the losses of individuals in the swarm. The war planners say that it is better and cheaper to replace 20 percent of a swarm rather than 20 percent of a jet fighter. However, when wars are fought, it could lead to increased armed fighting as a result.
The Center for New America Security released one report which they named the 20YY. Preparing for War in the Robotic Age. The report was released back in 2014 and it managed to suggest that there was a shift in smaller and cheaper unmanned platforms which could operate on the network together.
In the report, they noticed that the armies of the world would be more aggressive and willing to engage in the future. This would be as a result of not facing many expenses and using cheap robots in the war. This would help them reduce both the risk of casualties and any severe potential weapons loss. The increase in the army engagement would then lead people to frequently engage in fighting across the globe. It could also start up major wars as a result.
The OFFSET program
DARPA’s current project is called the OFFensive Swarm Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) Program. It helps with seeing the future of the small infantry using various drones in swarms. The drones would be in swarms of 250 small unmanned aircraft systems. It would also include the unmanned ground systems to help with the accomplishment of any mission however diverse. It would also help with missions which take place in various sophisticated urban environments.
Raytheon is creating a program that has a drag and drop interface. This would be useful in controlling the drones. It would also create a virtual simulator which can then be used for testing the communications technology. In the end, the contractor wants to produce a tangible swarm which they can test on.
A principal investigator on the program, Shane Clark, noted that operators could use their speech and various gestures to be able to control the swarm. This is of vital importance because it would give the people using it an advantage.
Raytheon as a company had at least sales of $25 billion last year alone. The contractor is known worldwide as they do business with at least 80 countries.
