UK, US and Australia jointly trial AI-enabled drone swarm

The UK government has deployed a “collaborative swarm” of autonomous drones to detect and track military targets using artificial intelligence (AI), as part of a joint trial with Australia and the US.  

Organised by the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and held in April 2023, the trial involved deploying the drones in a real-time “representative environment” and re-training their AI models mid-flight.

It also involved the “interchange” of different machine learning (ML) models between the drones of participating countries, and deploying those same models in a range of ground vehicles to further test their target identification capabilities.

“The trilateral teams collaborated to develop joint machine-learning (ML) models, apply test and evaluation processes, and fly on different national UAVs,” said the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). “The ML models were quickly updated to include new targets and shared among the coalition and AI models retrained to meet changing mission requirements.”

The MoD further claimed that the use of autonomous systems to independently detect and track enemy targets “will have a massive impact on coalition military capability,” and that military AI needs to be developed “at pace if we are to maintain our operational advantage”.

Run under the AUKUS agreement – a trilateral security pact between the Australian, UK and US governments to advance military cooperation throughout the Indo-Pacific region in areas such as nuclear submarines, hypersonic weapons and AI – the trial formed part of the coalition’s Advanced Capabilities Pillar, otherwise known as Pillar 2.

The aim of this work is to collaboratively accelerate these three government’s collective understanding of AI in a military context and, ultimately, field the technology in operations.

“This trial demonstrates the military advantage of AUKUS advanced capabilities, as we work in coalition to identify, track and counter potential adversaries from a greater distance and with greater speed,” said lieutenant general Rob Magowan, the UK deputy chief of defence staff.

“Accelerating technological advances will deliver the operational advantages necessary to defeat current and future threats across the battlespace. We are committed to collaborating with partners to ensure that we achieve this while also promoting the responsible development and deployment of AI.”

Abe Denmark, a US senior adviser to the secretary of defence for Aukus, added that advanced AI technologies have the potential to transform the way defence and security challenges are approached by the three governments.

“This capability demonstration is truly a shared effort and is thus a critical step in our collective initiative to stay ahead of emerging threats,” he said. “By pooling our expertise and resources through our AUKUS partnerships, we can ensure that our militaries are equipped with the latest and most effective tools to defend our nations and uphold the principles of freedom and democracy around the world.”

More than 70 military and civilian defence personnel and industry contractors were involved in the trial, including personnel from drone suppliers Blue Bear and Insitu.

The MoD previously announced in January 2021 that it had conducted a trial of autonomous “swarming drones” in Cumbria under Dstl’s Many Drones Make Light Work programme, which consisted of 20 drones operating collaboratively to deliver six different payloads.

Further drone swarm trials were carried out by the Royal Marines under its Autonomous Advance Force 4.0 programme in July 2021, where six drones were tasked with reconnaissance and re-supplying ground units.

In June 2022, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) unveiled its Defence artificial intelligence strategy outlining how the UK will work closely with the private sector to prioritise research, development and experimentation in AI to “revolutionise our Armed Forces capabilities”.

Although details on its approach to autonomous weapons were light in the 72-page strategy document, the annex of an accompanying policy paper said systems that can identify, select and attack targets without “context-appropriate human involvement” would be unacceptable.

In a report on “emerging military technologies” published November 2022 by the Congressional Research Service, analysts noted that roughly 30 countries and 165 nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) have called for a pre-emptive ban on the use of autonomous weapons due to the ethical concerns surrounding their use, including the potential lack of accountability and inability to comply with international laws around conflict.