Command and control of company warfare with autonomous systems - A board game study

Unmanned and autonomous systems are increasingly used for both civilian and military applications. Depending on the capabilities of the systems, these systems can be used at multiple levels of command, from squad level to battalion level. New demands will therefore be required of commanders and the command and control systems' (C2) ability to integrate, direct and coordinate these systems. For the workshops presented in this report, these systems consist of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs), together these are called UxVs. The purpose of this report is partly to examine how UxVs, based on the current state of technology, without autonomous capabilities, can be used for mechanized warfare. Partly to investigate how C2 of mechanized warfare is affected by future UxVs with different levels of autonomy. Two workshops with participants from the Land Warfare Centre have been conducted to obtain information on how the Swedish Armed Forces may consider using UxVs today and in the future. The results of the workshops indicate that UxVs can be used in defensive combat, delaying combat and even offensive combat within a mechanized company. Using UxVs, on the other hand, affects several levels of C2. UxVs can be used to perform tasks for platoons, but also to perform special combat tasks for the company command. The main limitation of using UGVs is their low speed, making them most suitable for defensive and delaying combat. UAVs can be used to gain observation over the enemy in both defensive and offensive combat.