Unmanned "swarm" combat is an important concept currently under development in the field of unmanned combat, which originates from group behavior in the biological world.
In biological groups, individuals have limited ability to perceive and act, but following simple behavioral rules, they can cooperate with each other to complete complex team activities, showing the characteristics of distribution, self-organization, collaboration, and stability. The global behavior generated by a large number of local interactions” has formed a strong ability to adapt to the environment.
Inspired by the behavior of biological groups, people began to use large-scale, low-cost small unmanned combat platforms to perform tasks such as group reconnaissance, interference, and strike, and improve overall combat effectiveness through scale advantages.
However, during the development of the unmanned "swarm" combat capability, due to the overemphasis on the imitation of the swarming behavior of creatures, the attempt to completely transplant the characteristics of the biological swarm into the unmanned "swarm" has made it difficult for the unmanned "swarm". Practical.
Because the autonomous capability of the unmanned system is subject to the development of artificial intelligence technology, if it is difficult to achieve a breakthrough in the level of intelligence, if the pursuit of high autonomy is excessive, the unmanned "swarm" may always be in the concept and experimental testing stage.
This requires us to re-examine the use of unmanned "swarms", to truly recognize the essence of unmanned "swarms" in combat, and to lead them to actual combat applications from the operational requirements.
With its "small", it is easy to stealth raids.
The unmanned systems used for "swarm" operations are mostly small unmanned combat platforms, and they use composite materials. The radar reflection area is small, and they have strong low detectability. , so that the other party has no time to react and intercept.
Foreign military tests show that when the "swarm" UAV attacks at a speed of 250 kilometers per hour, the "Aegis" shipborne air defense system radar detects the target and only has 15 seconds of interception time.
Even if the characteristics of the target are enhanced due to the use of clusters, the possibility of being detected increases, but through distributed deployment and simultaneous penetration in multiple directions, it can effectively break through the opponent's defense system with a high penetration probability, penetrate into the predetermined combat area and Get close to key and vital targets, quickly form a local high-intensity deployment and an all-round attack situation, and achieve the suddenness of operations.
Using its "more" is suitable for saturation attacks.
The biggest advantage of unmanned "swarms" is the number advantage, that is, through the use of a large number of different functional types of unmanned systems in groups and coordinated operations, the enemy's defense system is rapidly saturated in detection, tracking and interception capabilities, resulting in "overloading" of the system. ” and cause the system to collapse.
For example, although modern air defense systems can track hundreds of targets at a time, only a dozen or less can be effectively intercepted. Moreover, the number of missiles to be launched is limited, and it takes a long time to reload. In the face of a large-scale When the drones attack in groups, they will quickly run out of ammunition and have no chance of counterattack.
Therefore, some experts believe that UAV "swarm" operations do not require very high accuracy and autonomy, as long as 25% of UAVs can approach and hit the target.
At the same time, due to the multi-point launch of a large number of unmanned systems, the simultaneous or continuous entry of different heights and different directions will also cause the opponent to fall into a passive coping state due to the dispersion of defense forces.
Using its "cheap" is conducive to attrition in combat.
Compared with the defensive weapon system, the "swarm" unmanned system has a good low-cost advantage and a high cost-effectiveness ratio. It can be invested in large quantities regardless of losses, effectively destroying the opponent's high-value targets and consuming its expensive ammunition at the same time. , so that the opponent can't bear the asymmetric consumption and cause the continuous combat capability to be reduced or even the combat failure.
For example, the unit price of a "swarm" drone is usually more than ten thousand dollars, while an air defense missile is at least one million dollars. The cost gap between the offense and defense is huge. The defensive side often falls into the dilemma of "can't defend" and "can't fight".
In addition, due to the relatively simple structure of the "swarm" unmanned system, additive manufacturing or agile manufacturing technology can be used to rapidly mass-produce, quickly replenish and put into operation, which can greatly improve the continuity of operations and maintain a high-pressure situation of offensive operations. .
It can be seen that for unmanned "swarms", the most urgent task at present is to vigorously develop technologies such as data communication networking, cluster planning and control, and new power, so as to improve the multi-platform planning and control capabilities of "swarm" operations and unmanned aerial vehicles. The basic performance of the human combat platform itself, such as mobility, endurance and combat radius, as well as certain autonomous capabilities such as target recognition, positioning, tracking, strike, and coordinated maneuvering and target allocation under the control of rear planning, can better meet the actual combat requirements. It is necessary, but not necessarily, to achieve high autonomy of unmanned systems.