Thales develops method for flying drone swarms in contested environments

Thales has demonstrated the potential of deploying swarms of drones with different levels of autonomy supported by artificial intelligence. 

On October 16, the company tested the system architecture of its COHESION demonstrator, enabling operators to adapt the level of autonomy of their drone swarms to the operational requirements of each phase of the mission. This method is designed to provide flexibility in contested environments, where electronic warfare measures can saturate communication systems and jam datalinks that rely on GNSS signals.

Thales says that human-in-the-loop autonomous operation by single drones and/or entire swarms “overcomes the need for a permanent datalink with the control station” and that “the drones are capable of perceiving and analysing their local environment” as well as using collaborative tactics.