The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has issued nine new research and development (R&D) contracts since mid-April, designed to help agency officials mature nascent swarm technologies for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and unmanned ground systems (UGS), with the eventual goal of fielding those enabling capabilities in future conflicts.
The contract awards were granted to a range of commercial technology companies and academic laboratories specialising in automated robotics under DARPA’s OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) programme, which is being managed by the agency’s Tactical Technology Office (TTO).
DARPA’s OFFSET programme hosts its third field experiment on 27 January 2020 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency )
Focusing on “the tools to quickly generate swarm tactics, evaluate those swarm tactics for effectiveness, and integrate the best swarm tactics into field operations,” the OFFSET programme’s primary goal is to develop the necessary command, control, and networking capabilities needed to field UAS, UGS, or a combination of the two systems in a swarm of more than 250 platforms, DARPA said.
“By leveraging and combining emerging technologies in swarm autonomy and human-swarm teaming, the programme seeks to enable rapid development and deployment of breakthrough capabilities” in unmanned swarm technologies, focusing specifically on enabling US armed forces’ operations in dense, urban environments, the agency added.
DARPA also noted that contract awardees will focus on the development of swarm tactics used during deployment of unmanned systems during urban operations and creating a physical testbed to evaluate advanced swarm technologies, the agency said.
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