Swarms of AI-powered drones could soon become a widespread weapon on the European battlefield, according to The Times.

The publication reports that at least six European defense companies have already successfully tested swarm control, allowing a single person to control 18 drones simultaneously. In the United States, military contractors have demonstrated autonomous networks of over 100 drones, and the Pentagon is working on the concept of "swarms of swarms" consisting of up to 500 drones.

In Germany, there are concerns that existing air defense systems may not be ready for attacks of this scale: a large number of autonomous targets could simultaneously overwhelm detection and countermeasures systems.

"Today, we are still in a situation where detection and countermeasures systems can be very quickly overloaded and unable to assess the situation quickly enough. This causes us, as intelligence officers, deep concern," said Jens Römer, technical director of the German agency Zitis.

The next stage could be the emergence of autonomous formations of thousands of drones, operating simultaneously on land, in the air, and at sea. Marcel "Otto" Jon, CEO of the German company Autonomous Teaming, believes that the emergence of such systems is only a matter of time.

"If it really comes to the point where you have 10,000 drones operating completely autonomously – detecting targets, tracking them, and striking – that will be a completely new type of combat capability."

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