Indian Air Force Enhances Combat Potential With AI-based ‘Swarm Drone Technology’

The Indian Air Force has taken a big step towards developing indigenous 'Swarm Drone' technology which uses artificial intelligence to enhance its combat capability. On Saturday, the IAF shared pictures of swarm drone tests on its official Twitter handle, with the caption: "IAF is leading the way in using Artificial Intelligence to add to its combat potential. Swarm drones are a prime example."

Testing of Swarm Drone technology is a major achievement for India. UVA and small drones are flown together in a large swarm through AI technology. It is used for simultaneous large attacks on enemy tanks, ICVs, infantry combat vehicles, and trucks loaded with soldiers and ammunition, which are equipped with such drones, missiles, or bombs. Swarm-drones are also used to jam the enemy's communication-systems and radars on the battlefield.

Three images of the tests were posted by the IAF, showing at least 15 hexacopter UAVs flying in a coordinated manner from an airbase. The images were, however, blurred. Whether the blurring was done intentionally to hide the characteristics of the drones, is not known.

What is Swarm Drones?

Swarm drones is a concept where a large cluster (or several clusters) of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are flown together in contested or hostile airspace, in order to confuse the radar with a bigger image of the actual target and to achieve their objective. These drones (or robots) work in tandem with each other and are controlled either manually or autonomously through processors on board.

Swarn drones can be efficiently used in Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses/ Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD/DEAD) roles, by giving a distorted image of bogeys on the radar, detecting the enemy radar sites, and passing on that information to their operators.

When armed, these drones can be used as kamikaze, attacking the enemy Air Defense sites or other critical infrastructural assets. Apart from military applications, it can be used by civilians in many ways like aerial demonstrations.