Just what the Pentagon plans to do with its newly proved ability to launch swarms of tiny unmanned vehicles from moving fighter jets remains classified, but the Defense Department's recently released video documenting such a launch shows some of the potential.
The video was made as part of experiments over Alaska in 2015, according to the Washington Post. The micro-drones are launched from the flare dispensers of F-16 and F/A-18 fighters. The UAVs, encased in canisters and slowed by a parachute, launch while on the way down.
The Pentagon's Strategic Capabilities Office ran the experiment. The Post notes that potential uses of drone swarms include confusing enemy forces and flying surveillance missions.
The unmanned craft, developed by students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is called a Perdix, and is made with a 3-D printer and cell phone electronics.
"Just imagine an airplane going in against an [integrated air defense] system and dropping 30 of these out that form into a network and do crazy things," said Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, quoted in Breaking Defense. "We've tested it and it works."
