Autonomous Swarming AI Munitions for USAF

The US Air Force's AFLCMC Armament Directorate has awarded a one-year contract to Liteye Systems and Unmanned Experts to build Web Weasels (WW) autonomous swarming artificially intelligent munitions. WW is part of Unmanned Experts' parent program Air Commons – Swarm which allows commanders to plan, task, and manage multiple swarming assets through a Swarm ATO and Swarm Engine. According to Liteye, squadrons of autonomous collaborative munitions operating at range, and at risk, need the training, Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) to handle the speed-of-datalink environment that occurs in modern combat. Teamwork, communication, shared mental models, and a robust set of tried and tested strategies are needed to survive and dominate. WW aims to overlay Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML)-trained algorithms onto Air Commons – Swarm's capabilities to provide pre-launch munitions with a series of TTPs in a'Playbook' for a given mission set (i.e., SEAD).