Deployment and Flight Operations of a Large Scale UAS Combat Swarm: Results from DARPA Service Academies Swarm Challenge

The DARPA Service Academies Swarm Challenge (SASC) was a unique opportunity for future military leaders to innovate in the rapidly evolving domain of unmanned aerial system (UAS) swarm combat. The United States Naval Academy (USNA), United States Military Academy (USMA), and United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) competed in head-to-head games of simulated aerial swarm combat. The competition culminated in a live fly event in Camp Roberts CA. This paper describes the participation of the USNA team who won the competition. The students were tasked with developing game strategy, combat tactics, and managing their UAS fleet. This challenge highlighted the need for large scale experiments to identify and push the limits of current technology.