The Rise of Swarm Drones: How They are Used in Military Operations?

Many countries are using Drone Warfare for conducting hybrid warfare against their enemies. Swarm drone attacks have made drone warfare deadlier. Drone warfare shot into the limelight during the Azerbaijan-Armenian conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Throughout the battle, drones were put to use by the Azeri forces against the Armenian land forces with telling effect.

The U.S., Russia, China and Britain are in the advanced stages of developing this technology. The US research agency DARPA developed a micro missile-shaped drone to be dropped from planes. The US Navy also works on ‘Low-Cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarming Technology’.

Russia is also working on drone swarming and is trying to integrate drones with its 6th gen Fighter Aircraft’. Likewise, the UK is also working on Swarm attack technology. Before 2011, there were just three countries that had armed drones, but between 2011 and 2020, 18 countries had armed drones, of which China supplied 11 countries.

Swarm drones are of two types: Fixed-wing swarms and Quadcopter Swarms. China is the world record holder in both categories. In fixed-wing UAV swarms, it flew 119 UAVs in June 2017 by the Chinese Electronic Technology Corporation, beating the US record of 103 fixed-wing UAVs in January 2017. The fixed-wing UAV swarm is divided into groups, each circling over its intended target and, afterwards, manoeuvring to determine the viability of applying coordinated inspection, distributed surveillance, and saturated strikes over ground targets.

Likewise, the Chinese company Ehang established the world's largest quadcopter UAV swarms including 1,374 UAVs on April 29, 2018. China conducted a test of a Stealth attack Swarm tech drone. The advanced drone can be launched from trucks, helicopters, and sea platforms. It is around 1.2 meters long, has a maximum speed of 150 kmph and an operating radius of 15 km. These types of drones function like normal drones throughout recce mode but convert into cruise missiles and launch self-destruction attacks upon receiving the command. The swarm drones attack the target by integrating ML and AI.

Swarm drones are numerous unmanned aerials flying platforms combined as a single networked system self-contained for communication, reconnaissance and weapons to strike an enemy target.

Swarm drone operation envisages integrating and flying many drones carrying sensors, weapons and communication equipment obtaining inputs, building a complete battle picture and communicating to several users. This increases the likelihood of the success of a mission as redundancies are built into the concept. For instance, if a drone is jammed, its functions get taken over by another drone.

Swarm drones are integrated as a single networked system self-contained for communication, reconnaissance, and weapons/munitions to strike an enemy ground-based target. Azerbaijan's successful use of drones has comprehensively validated drone employment in a conventional setting beyond doubt, upholding the reign of air power in a future battlefield.

Research is ongoing to counter swarm drone threats. An area looking promising to counter such threats might lie in the electronic domain. Even in the destruction domain, efforts are being made to discover suitable weapon systems.

The Chinese are pursuing research to make their drones jamming-resistant and able to operate in GPS-denied areas. There is scope to disrupt this disruptive new warfare capability.

Greater Survivability

As drones are difficult to detect, the chances of survival are greater than manned aircraft. Likewise, being a network of weapon systems of several drones, even if they get detected and shot down, the function is taken over by other swarm drones. Though, upon detection, they are easy to shoot down.

Cheaper Options

Drones are increasingly becoming famous over countermeasure systems to threats, such as air defense or electronic countermeasure systems. Weapon systems to counter-drone technologies will be developed shortly. Swarm drones will rule the roost in the future,

Disruptive Effect against Ground-based Weapon Systems

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict proved that a small conventional force led by persistent drone attacks is a lethal and cheaper option. The tank also came under fire from the drones, suggesting that perhaps tanks will now have to transport a C-UAS system with them to guarantee their security like an anti-missile system.

Limited Effect of Terrain

The swarm drones can overcome the terrain and camouflage advantages of the ground forces through sensors and reconnaissance equipment. Likewise, with loiter capability and mass employment of drones, the dispersion tactics were also neutralized.

India in 2021 demonstrated a swarm drone technology demo with Quadcopters. However small it might be, it has indicated the intent of the Indian Armed Forces concerning swarm drones. While there are various strategic lessons to be learnt from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the military lessons highlighted above should be of concern to us. India is deadlocked into continuous conflict with Pakistan, resembling the setting of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Furthermore, India has recently been dealing with China and has been locked into a prolonged conflict in Ladakh, whose forecast remains uncertain. We should also be aware that in today’s time China today enjoys an edge in drone technology. So, what is India's standing? Numerous startups have sprung up in this sector, but there is still a long way to go. It was realized that a decisive public-private partnership in collaboration with the USA, Israel or the U.K. in this technology is the lone way to get closer to China.

India has also started the development of swarm drones in partnership with the U.S. as part of the 2 Plus 2 Defence Technology and Trade Initiative. However, it needs to be seen whether this initiative will be taken on high priority.

In the meantime, HAL is also collaborating with a startup called “New Space Research Technology.” The projected system is named ‘Air-Launched Flexible Asset-Swarm’ (ALFA-S). It will be a 1 – 2 meters long canister-based drone that can be launched from aircraft/helicopters. According to HAL, it might take up to 2 years to develop a prototype. We are required to develop the capability to cope with such threats. Solutions must be found regarding the ability to shoot them down and neutralize them through electronic warfare.

India must ensure that the “Swarm Drone Attack System” is based on the principles of the drones' survivability, the swarm's size and the mix of several drones in operations for both conventional and unconventional threats. Similarly, based on this emerging frontier of warfare, India should review its warfighting doctrine, concepts, and competencies and, if need be, alter its force structure. It is an extremely competitive and devastating battlefield of the future, and there is a need to adapt to the altering dynamics of warfare and associated technologies.

There is absolutely no doubt that the swarm drone will be the technology of future warfare in India. Keeping this in mind, the government and the concerned authorities are taking giant steps to develop this technology into the mainstream. As and when this technology comes into the Indian mainstream, there will be a burgeoning demand for drone pilots.

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