FASTER, PLEASE: US Air Force seeks ‘rapidly deployable’ drone swarms for base security.

The U.S. Air Force is looking to turn its cargo planes into launch platforms for drone swarms.

Or more specifically, the service would like transport aircraft and their retinue of drones to deploy to Air Force bases. Once there, this swarm of AI-controlled drones would autonomously defend the bases — and any aircraft parked there — from attack.

The goal is to transform cargo planes into “adaptive, force-multiplying launch platforms” that provide “a rapidly deployable swarm for base security,” according to an Air Force Small Business Innovation Research solicitation.

It sounds cool in theory, but given the nature of the drone threat, I can’t imagine why each base shouldn’t have its own instead of waiting for the swarm to deploy from somewhere else.