‘Silent Swarm’: US Navy seeking electromagnetic spectrum tech crossed with unmanned
The US Navy's Naval Surface Warfare Center is actively pursuing collaborations with industry and government entities for an exercise titled "Silent Swarm 2024." The exercise, slated for July 2024, aims to showcase the potential of early-stage unmanned systems in electromagnetic warfare. "Silent Swarm" will emphasize the deployment of small, agile unmanned systems that can execute distributed electromagnetic attacks, deceive adversaries, and deliver digital payloads. These systems should be within the Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) of two to five. The main objective of this exercise is to assess how individual technological solutions can work cohesively in a multi-domain scenario—land, air, sea, undersea, cyber, and space. The broader ambition of this initiative aligns with the Navy's focus on using electromagnetic energy to compromise the enemy's capabilities and ensure friendly forces maintain operational freedom. This announcement follows the recent conclusion of a similar exercise, and is part of a broader defense strategy that includes endeavors like the "Replicator" initiative aiming to produce drones en masse.