He Ministry of Defense of Sweden presented this week a new technology drone swarmdeveloped with the Swedish defense technology company saabwhich allows the collaboration between UAV of different sizes. In a press conference held during the National People’s and Defense Conference of Swedenthe minister Pål Jonson together with the head of the Army Jonny Lindfors and the CEO of Saab Michael Johansson They have talked about this project that has been carried out secretly until this week.
This system works with drones up to 25 kilograms in weight and can coordinate up to 100 simultaneously, controlled by a single human operator. Jonson noted that the project allows Sweden to use commercial drones of different sizes, range and swarm capabilities that carry out missions autonomously, including reconnaissance and surveillance.
‘An example of this could be finding, locating and identifying hostile objects. Drones in the swarm can divide tasks among themselves. They return to charge their batteries when necessary and then return to the mission,’ Jonson explained. He also indicated that software modifications would allow UAVs to be converted in attack drones or ‘bombers’.
Lindfors explained that the Swedish Army has learned the lessons about the use of drones in the war that the Ukrainian conflict is leavingin which technological and tactical changes are rapid.
Minister Jonson stated that Sweden, as the newest member of NATO, must accelerate the pace of rearmament in the face of current security risks and that one area in which its armed forces are lacking is in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles.
‘We will have to take some risks to build a stronger defense capability faster than we normally do,’ he added. For that reason, the development of drone swarm technology has been carried out in the last 12 months, when it is a type of project that would normally take up to five years to completereports Kyiv Post.
The platform will be tested in realistic operating conditions during the military exercise Arctic Strike which will take place in March, with a view to be deployed this year.
Saab has previously developed other types of drone swarm technology. In November, technology Autonomous Swarm of the company was included in the tests Project Convergence 2024which were carried out for a month in USA.
A team of United Kingdommade up of 40 employees of BlueBearowned by Saab, and staff of the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory of the British Ministry of Defense, then demonstrated the ability to implement interoperable AI in Autonomous Swarms of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). The Mission System AI Centurion of BlueBear allowed a single operator directs a diverse swarm of autonomous UAS. Saab acquired BlueBear in August 2023.
The most recent swarm technology presented by Saab for Sweden, in addition to fulfilling intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tasks, allows create a communication link with built-in redundancy.
This makes it possible for drones to be at the forefront of training send your data to the operator, even in an electronic warfare environment. Saab claims that staff can be trained in the use of the system in a matter of days‘enabling the Swedish military to rapidly develop drone swarm capabilities,’ according to Aviation Week.