INTRODUCTION
U.S Air Force Research Laboratory plans to test Golden Horde concept later this year
which will allow munitions that are networked to operate together in a swarm and act autonomously.
Viewers may note that Golden Horde is one of the three technology development efforts
selected by the Air Force in 2019 as a “Vanguard program” — high-priority prototyping and
experimental initiative that the service recognizes as potentially groundbreaking.
U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Anthony Genatempo, the service’s Program Executive Officer
for Weapons had offered the first details about Golden Horde at a media roundtable on
the sidelines of the Life Cycle Industry Days at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio
on June 20, 2019.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how US Air Force ’s Golden Horde swarm will
take on Russian and Chinese air defense?
Let’s get started
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Near peer rivals of the U.S like Russia & China are deploying long-range integrated air defense
systems.
They are trying to have a strong Anti Access Area Denial (A2AD) set up in place.
For example, Russia has developed and deployed S 400 Triumf air defense system which is considered
one of the most powerful air defense systems in the world.
S 400 is an air defense weapon system developed by Russia’s Almaz Central Design Bureau
in the 1990s as an upgrade of the S 300 family.
it has been in service with the Russian armed forces since 2007.
It is designed to defend against aircraft including 5th generation stealth fighters,
bombers, AWACS, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.
The radars of S 400 have a range of around 600 km or around 370 miles.
The main radar is complimented by target acquisition radars some of which are touted to have the
ability to detect stealth aircraft.
S 400 deploys multiple missiles to cover its strike envelope and can take out targets at
a range of 400 km or 250 miles flying up to a speed of Mach 14.
Russia is also working on S 500 which will be even more powerful.
U.S Air Force will find it difficult to take out these systems with traditional weapons
and this is where swarming technology will come to the fore.
The technology of swarming is in which drones as well as smart munitions wlll be deployed
in squadrons, able to think independently and operate as a pack using Artificial Intelligence
(AI).
This concept will allow thousands of independent units to act as one and home in on the target
in a collaborative fashion.
This kind of capability will be disruptive as it will be hard to defend against.
For example, even the most potent air defense will find it hard to track a single drone
or incoming munition from a huge number of potential targets and it will also run out
of ammunition.
This technology is in its infancy, but militaries around the world are putting in a lot of resources
on this.
A relatively simpler form of this has already been used.
In January 2018 Russian forces faced a drone swarm launched against Khmeimim Air Base,
in Syria.
The Russian were able to neutralize most of these.
Though the attack was not able to inflict major damage, it indicated that the threat
of the swarm weapon has arrived.
A relatively recent example is the attack on Saudi Arabia.
On September 14, 2019, facilities of Saudi Arabia's oil company Aramco located in the
east of the country came under attack.
As per reports, 18 drones and 7 missiles were used for the coordinated attack.
The damage was significant & this caused a spike in global oil prices.
It is to be noted that being facilities of very significant importance, they were protected
by layered air defense The inner layer consisted of several short-range automatic gun systems
that were designed for last-ditch defense.
The outer layer was Patriot PAC-2 surface-to-air missile batteries that the U.S. sold to Saudi
Arabia to intercept aircraft and missiles.
In this case, the Patriot air defense failed to neutralize the incoming threats since it
couldn't detect them properly or was overwhelmed because of large numbers.
Golden Horde will use swarming technology.
AFRL or Air Force Research Laboratory is working on two networked munitions for Golden Horde:
the Collaborative Small Diameter Bomb I (CSDB-1) and the Collaborative Miniature Air-Launched
Decoy (CMALD).
CSDB-1 is derived from the GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb which has a range of 110 km
or 68 miles against stationary targets and 72 km or 45 miles against moving once.
CMALD is derived from MALD which is an intelligent decoy missile having a range of 460 km or
285 mi.
The integration of hardware and software on the Golden Horde program is being performed
by Scientific Applications and Research Associates Inc. — which won a $100 million contract
in 2019 for CSDB-1 — and Georgia Tech Applied Research Corporation, which won $85 million
for CMALD, Air Force Magazine reported.
Norma Taylor, the program manager for Golden Horde has stated both involve taking munitions
currently in production — the laser-guided version of Boeing’s Small Diameter Bomb
I and Raytheon’s Miniature Air-Launched Decoy — and then outfitting them with new
radios that allow the weapons to exchange information, and equipping them with new processors
for additional computing power.
Col. Garry Hasse, director of AFRL’s Munitions Directorate said, AFRL is on track to begin
F-16 fighter jet flight tests with the CSDB-1 this fall and winter, with similar tests of
the B-52 bomber carrying the CMALD planned for summer 2021.
The first tests will be simple and will help the Air Force ascertain whether the weapons
are properly communicating across the network and acting in accordance with the mission
playbook.
For example, a pack of CSDB-1s could come across a threat while on the way to attack
a predefined target and would have to change course to avoid it.
Norma Taylor stated that a pilot’s experience launching the CSDB-1 or CMALD should be about
the same as the baseline version of the weapon, with mission-planning teams working to preprogram
the networked munitions with information about its rules of engagement ahead of takeoff.
He added, eventually AFRL will use the CSDB-1 and CMALD together in an integrated swarm
in a more complex scenario, currently scheduled around 2022.
As evident, the Golden Horde initiative's focus is on networking existing munitions.
This lowers risk proposition than developing an entirely new weapon system and also reduces
development timelines.
Golden Horde concept brings in many advantages - for example, few munitions could hit the
target and others can send back images to reveal the extent of damages to the operator
who can decide if more munition need to attack.
Another scenario could see a part of the swarm be designated to hit predefined target whereas
the other part is programmed to take out pop-up threats, such as point air defense systems
and engage them so as to reduce the threat to the rest of the swarm.
Though a lot of progress has been made when it comes to air defense, nothing is fail-proof
- even the most advanced system would be disabled if a single munition from a pack of hundred
manages to hit one of its critical components like radar or control center.
It is clear that this kind of capability will provide U.S Air Force a distinct advantage
and enable it to exploit the vulnerabilities of a rival's air defense set up.