Federal Ammunition and Mossberg are working with Palladyne AI to create SwarmShot, an autonomous kinetic defense system that is modular, reusable and employs swarms of armed drones to shield troops from unmanned aircraft system (UAS) threats. The system is a defensive application of Palladyne AI’s SwarmOS, which demonstrated its ability to enable unmanned aircraft from multiple manufacturers, share information, allocate responsibilities and adapt their actions collectively in real time at U.S. Army exercises. The aircraft operated collaboratively, while Soldiers retained authority over weapons employment.
SwarmShot will apply that capability to create an airborne UAS shield using IntelliSwarm. Validated threat tracks will be received from existing sensors or command systems, targets will be autonomously allocated among available interceptors, intercept paths calculated, aircraft maneuvered into engagement position and, if needed, the swarm redirected if targets move or new threats appear.
“SwarmShot is a defensive application of the true autonomous swarming capability we demonstrated with the Army at PC-C6 and other exercises,” said Ben Wolff, president and CEO of Palladyne AI. “One SwarmShot-equipped aircraft is a reusable interceptor. Multiple aircraft operating through IntelliSwarm become a coordinated kinetic swarm.”
SwarmShot will be engineered as one integrated system. Federal will lead ammunition design and terminal-effect optimization, leveraging experience from its recent U.S. Army counter-UAS ammunition contract. Mossberg will lead development of the lightweight airborne weapon module, including remote operation, recoil management, reliability and safety.
“Federal has always engineered ammunition around the mission,” said Jason Vanderbrink, chairman and CEO of The Kinetic Group. “Our recent counter-UAS work for the U.S. Army provides a strong technical foundation for SwarmShot. Working with Mossberg and Palladyne AI allows us to optimize the ammunition, weapon and engagement geometry together from the outset.”
“This is not simply an existing shotgun mounted to a drone,” said Doug Bell, president and COO of O.F. Mossberg & Sons. “Mossberg will engineer a lightweight airborne weapon module around the unique requirements of recoil, remote actuation, reliability and safety. SwarmShot extends trusted firearms engineering into an entirely new defense application.”
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