DARPA: OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) Program
August 9th, 2019Coming to a favela near you!
Via: The Verge:
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is experimenting with using a swarm of autonomous drones and ground robots to assist with military missions. In a video of a recent test, DARPA showed how its robots analyzed two city blocks to find, surround, and secure a mock city building.
DARPA conducted its test back in June in Georgia, featuring both drones and ground-based robots. The demonstration was part of DARPA’s OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program, which is designed to eventually accompany small infantry units as they work in dense urban environments, and could eventually scale up to 250 drones and ground robots.
I’ve been thinking about military drone use for a while. Dark imaginings.
First take out the troops and replace the pretty music with something like Wagner. The swarm of surveillance/mapping drones are backed up by a drone gunship or two operating with a firing range of over 2 miles. Technology permitting, everything is dropped in and extracted by a high altitude cargo craft; the queen carrying her soldiers, the soldiers carrying the workers.
Small drones could also be (already are?) used to laser paint targets, still or moving.