T
Technology WAtCH
www.vanguardcanada.com FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 35
Scene from Gulliver's Travels
I
t's amazing how often we are starting to see the reverse of
what we are used to when it comes to the commercializa-
tion of defence technologies: where commercial industry
develops technology and then the defense community
adapts it.
Dropped from two F-18s, the 104 micro UAVs collaborated
in "missions" at the China Lake U.S. Navy test range facility,
communicating with each other and swarming with a piercing
sound loud enough to be heard from the ground. ARS Tech-
nology reported "the drones demonstrated advanced swarm
behaviors, including self-healing communications, self-adapting
formation flying, and collective decision-making. While the pro-
totype drones' orders were simply to 'patrol' an area, they could
conceivably be used for surveillance, battlefield communications
networks, or even attacks — imagine a swarm of self-guiding
flying hand grenades." This reminds me of the Lilliputians hold-
ing down the giant by swarming him in Gulliver's Travels. The
Lilliputians are described as "men six inches in height, but pos-
sessing all the pretension and self-importance of full-sized men.
They are mean and nasty, vicious, morally corrupt, hypocritical
and deceitful, jealous and envious, filled with greed and ingrati-
tude." They are, however, in fact, completely human.
Is this a fair parallel to draw to swarming micro UAVs? What
are the future uses of UAV technology? And while the major-
ity of technological innovation has traditionally come from the
defence sector, could we see a lot of innovation arise from the
commercial sectors, driven by efficiency gains and desire for
maximizing profits, and then applied to the defence sector? An-
other question, and I am not an expert here, but what are the
moral implications of how far we take this technology devel-
opment? UAVs are certainly at the top of key technologies to
watch in defence, but I think it is important that we break it
down to immediate steps in how we can improve efficiencies,
