The U.S. wants to create tens of thousands of drones to suppress enemy air defense systems, but there are two problems - price and range

The United States is working with drones to suppress enemy air defense systems.

Here's What We Know

The U.S. Navy is developing drones as part of the Super Swarm project that can work in swarms and overwhelm enemy air defense systems. The service plans to produce tens of thousands of drones, but it faces two challenges.

The first obstacle is the high cost. As noted above, the Navy wants to produce tens of thousands of drones. This will cost a tidy sum, since at this stage the cost per drone is about $50,000.

The MASS project is trying to solve the problem by creating disposable UAVs in large quantities on a 3D printer. The specialists want to create a modifiable design that can be quickly optimized for the tasks at hand. In particular, to ensure maximum speed or flight time.

The second problem is a small radius of action. They are also trying to solve it, but within the framework of another project - DEALRS. The program involves the creation of more oversized drones (mother drones), which will launch smaller drones.

The service also plans to create a control system for a swarm of UAVs. It will allow distributing tasks between the drones in the swarm and simplify the operators' work.

Source: Technology Review

Image: The Daily Guardian