Drone Swarm Flights – Now Also in Spain

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Spain has been enhancing its unmanned aircraft vehicle swarming capabilities. The Spanish Ministry of Defense has awarded a contract to the local company Escribano Mechanical & Engineering for the development of an autonomous, multiplatform UAV swarm system.

The project contemplates the development of software for an experimental swarm system of UAVs to carry out different types of experimental missions, mainly ISTARSAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance, Search and Rescue) and loitering.

The technology can be used with military platforms such as the future 8×8 Dragon wheeled combat vehicles, from which they would operate in a range of 5 to 10 km and incorporate loitering or attack capabilities against ground targets.

Equipped with cutting-edge artificial intelligence, LISS (Long Range Intelligent Security System) is the only drone swarm system that provides individual and group intelligence for the development of missions autonomously. The swarm is operated by a single operator, its behavior will be autonomous, and it can be adapted to the events of the mission.

The dual-use technology has both military and civil applications such as defense and protection missions for soldiers, coastal surveillance, control of toxic spills, monitoring of fires, searching for survivors in disasters such as earthquakes, detecting crop diseases, etc., as reported by armyrecognition.com.

The project is part of Phase II of the Spanish RAPAZprogram for the supply of four Class I Seeker RPASs, to be integrated into the intelligence units of the Paratrooper Brigade and the Marine Infantry Protection Force.