High-accuracy positioning is an important factor for drone technology. (Photo : Getty Images)
Military experts agree that the fast-rising drone swarming technique is pivotal in creating new combat strategies, according to a report by the Global Times.
On Saturday night, attendees of the Chinese Lantern Festival’s Guangzhou air show witnessed a record-breaking performance of 1,000 drones. Citing a report from the State-run Xinhua News Agency, a thousand Ehang GHOSTDRONE 2.0 delivered a spectacular 15-minute lighting show.
Controlled by only one engineer and one computer, the display featured six different formations. The recent show has set a new Guinness World Record for an aerobatic show participated in by the most number of drones.
According to the Global Times, a Chinese drone expert, who requested for his anonymity, said that such “drone formation requires advanced visual and communications equipment, besides the application of the swarming technique.”
Aerospace Knowledge magazine chief editor Wang Yanan told the publication that employing this new trend of large-scale drone formation for military purposes demand “higher standards for drones.”
“If the technique becomes mature enough, it will change the way wars are fought,” Wang said, adding that this technique indeed has great potential in the field of military.
The anonymous source noted that the technique “is likely to introduce changes in the structure of drones by installing mission payload modules on multiple mini drones,” hence creating a distributed system of drones that is difficult to destroy.
Meanwhile, Wang furthered that if masterfully infused in the military, the drone swarming technique can be tapped in all weapon systems--may it be a satellite, ground equipment and combat aircraft. Experts said that the advantage of using drone swarms relies on the old adage that there is strength in numbers.
Currently, China’s military drone is considered as one of the largest in the world. In last year’s Zhuhai airshow, the country boasted its army of surveillance and attack drones, supersonic robot planes, stealthy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and drone swarms.
