UAVs can be programmed to attack in Kamikaze swarm waves, say Technion scientists

Envision a futuristic combat scenario, where air attacks are carried out by waves of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), swarming together like birds of prey and carrying out coordinated 'pack attacks' on land, sea and air targets. The problem is, their 'pilots' control UAVs from the ground, and putting too many of them together in a restricted air space sharply increases the chances of confusion and collisions.

But now, scientists at the Technion - the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa - say they have come up with a new technology that would allow UAV's to control themselves. The technology can be used to make the UAVs swarm together like a flock of birds. They say this swarming behaviour can then be used to mount more effective attacks on enemy targets.

They say that if the UAVs are fitted with an interactive communications network that can enable them to swap the information needed to calculate flight paths and avoid collisions on a real-time basis, then that would completely eliminate the need for them to be continuously controlled from the ground.

Using the technology, the UAVs could monitor a target and even 'decide' for themselves how best to attack it, based on the position of each aircraft and the weapons it is carrying.

If it can be successfully deployed in real-time situations, the technology promises to completely revolutionise military aviation, as we know it. The institute has now applied for a patent for the technology.