28-Drone Swarm Just Led The Way For A Simulated Air Assault Mission
Army proves large numbers of highly networked drones can be controlled by one operator aboard a helicopter or from the ground.
BY
DAN PARSONS
MAY 24, 2022 7:49 PM
Drone edge 22
DAN PARSONS
In the Army's most recent aviation experiment, four waves of seven drones were launched into the Utah sky in the largest networked 'interactive' sortie of 'Air-Launched Effects' (ALE) unmanned aerial vehicles of its kind to date. A single operator was able to control the resultant swarm of drones as they hunted for and destroyed simulated enemy positions ahead. Some details about the test were announced in advance, as you can read about in The War Zone's initial reporting, but now we are getting a far clearer view of exactly how the potentially historic exercise went down.
Launching the 28-drone operation, all controlled and overseen by a surrogate for the Army's Future Attack Recon Aircraft (FARA), was the culminating event at the service's 2022 Experimental Demonstration Gateway Exercise (EDGE 22) held earlier this month at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The notional FARA was played at times by crewed UH-60 Black Hawk and others an uncrewed MQ-1C Gray Eagle. The throngs of smaller drones, the ALEs, were launched from aircraft, as well as several ground vehicles serving as surrogate helicopters.
Carrying various sensing equipment, the ALEs gathered information about enemy positions and fed reconnaissance and targeting data back to a manned UH-60, ground troops, and to subsequent waves of drones through a mesh tactical network, a spokesperson for the Army’s Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team (FVL CFT) told The War Zone.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/28-drone-swarm-just-paved-way-for-simulated-army-air-assault-mission
