The Air Force Wants to Unleash a Robotic “Golden Horde” on Adversaries

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(Source:  Jonathan Snyder/DVIDS)

December 31, 2019 | Originally published by Date Line: December 31 on

Golden Horde is designed to incorporate to the Air Force’s three most urgent technologies:  precision-guided weapons, artificial intelligence, and communications networking. Precision-guided weapons, united by secure communications links and endowed with artificial intelligence, would be launched en masse at the enemy, with missiles aimed at preplanned targets.

If a target is assigned three incoming missiles but the first missile destroys the target, the remaining two missiles could then consult a list of alternate targets, determine which remaining ones they could plausibly reach, then recommend to human controllers they be re-tasked to those targets. A human could approve or disapprove the action.

Golden Horde will cut down on wasted munitions and other guided munitions while increasing the number of enemy targets struck. It will also minimize enemy efforts to fool missile strikes—while the first missile in a strike might be fooled, subsequent missiles will attack other targets, increasing the chances that real enemy targets will be hit.