COUNTER-UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES STUDY: SHIPBOARD LASER WEAPON SYSTEM ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR COUNTERING DRONE SWARM THREATS IN THE MARITIME ENVIRONMENT

This thesis studied engagement strategies for countering maritime drone swarm threats using a shipboard laser weapon system (LWS). The thesis examined maritime drone swarm threats to define parameters that characterize the different types of drone swarms expected in the near future. The thesis explored swarm attack formations, defined two potential heterogeneous swarm scenarios, and proposed five engagement strategies involving the order in which a shipboard laser weapon system would fire upon drones in a swarm threat. Modeling and simulation data was collected from the NPS Modeling Virtual Environments and Simulation (MOVES) Swarm Commander Tactics program to study the efficacy of swarm formation and engagement strategies. The results reinforce that the size of the swarm and formations used significantly affect the success rate of the attacking swarm. The complexity of the situation further increases when facing heterogeneous swarms. The results show that the success rate shifts severely in favor of the attacking swarm when using a simple heterogeneous decoy attack. When altering the LWS engagement strategy to counter this, there is a substantial reversal of success rate, which nearly changes the outcome in favor of the defending ship. This information amplifies the need to explore swarm attack and defense tactics that will organically develop with heterogeneous swarms and LWS use.ONR, Arlington, VA 22217Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited