DRONE SWARMS

THE Beijing government is developing swarms of ‘suicide’ drones to hover in the sky as they locate their target – while communicating with each other and coordinating their movements without any human input.

This marks the next era of robotic warfare, with autonomous weapons replacing current drones that have to be pre-programmed or are remote-controlled. The United States and Israel are also working on such technology, while Britain, too, tested a swarm of 20 drones last month with sorties from RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria.

The advanced technology uses computer algorithms – often modelled on biological studies of insects and fish – to create self-navigating drone squadrons.