2021 2nd International Symposium on Computer Engineering and Intelligent Communications (ISCEIC)

Research on Application and Development Trend of

Multi-domain Cooperative Combat for Unmanned
2021 2nd International Symposium on Computer Engineering and Intelligent Communications (ISCEIC) | 978-1-6654-4160-5/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ISCEIC53685.2021.00069

Combat Platform
Pei Zhang1,a* Chengye Zhang 2,b
1Department 2
of Weaponry and Control in the school of Army Qingdao Agricultural University, Chengyang District,
Academy of Armored Force, Fengtai District, Dujiakan No. 21, Changcheng Road No. 700,
Beijing, China Qingdao, China
* Corresponding author: 1210065399@qq.com

Weilong Gai 3,C

3
Unit 66389 of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Fengtai
District, Xinzhuang Road No. 6,
Beijing, China
Abstract—Because unmanned combat platforms can enhance of unmanned combat platforms and the increasingly close
combat capabilities and expand combat areas, they can minimize connection between the land, sea, and air domains in the
casualties and can play an important role in wars. With the combat space, the combat effectiveness of the traditional
increasing application of unmanned combat platforms, the need single-platform, single-domain combat model is extremely
for multi-domain coordinated operations in land, sea, and air has limited and no longer meets the needs of warfare. The combat
become prominent. The combat effectiveness of the traditional mode of the combat platform has gradually developed from a
single-platform and single-area combat model is extremely single platform to a more flexible multi-platform cluster
limited and no longer meets the needs of warfare. Therefore, the combat. The unmanned platform battle group formed by
unmanned combat platforms combat mode of the company has
multiple unmanned platforms is based on the command
gradually developed from a single platform to a more flexible
multi-platform cluster combat. How to achieve multi-domain
information system as the core and information as the link. It is
coordinated operations of unmanned combat platforms in the air, composed of multiple types of unmanned combat platforms
ground, and sea is the key to achieve combat missions and that are interconnected and interacted in function and
enhance combat capabilities. This article defines the concept of complement each other in performance. Compared with a
multi-domain coordinated operations for unmanned combat single unmanned platform, the unmanned battle group has
platforms, and discusses the multi-domain coordinated stronger comprehensive combat capabilities, including
operations of unmanned combat platforms. Research on the reconnaissance and perception capabilities, relay capabilities,
application and development trend of coordinated operations has strike capabilities, evaluation capabilities and so on. So, it can
important military strategic significance. perform various combat tasks independently or in coordination
with other manned combat platforms [2]. How to achieve multi-
Keywords- Unmanned combat; platform system analysis; domain coordinated operations of unmanned combat platforms
development status; existing problems in the air, ground, and sea is the key to achieving combat
missions and improving the combat capabilities of combat
I. INTRODUCTION systems. Therefore, based on defining the concept of multi-
domain coordinated combat for unmanned combat platforms.
With the rapid development of unmanned combat
Research on the application and development trend of multi-
technology in the world's military field, many unmanned
domain coordinated operations has important military
equipment has been installed, and unmanned combat forces
significance.
have grown stronger. Promoting the advanced stage of
"intelligence" and "unmanned" warfare [1]. Because unmanned
combat platforms get rid of the limitations of physiological
limits, they can work with high intensity around the clock
under conditions such as jungles, deserts, high radiation,
biochemical pollution, and extreme natural environments.
While enhancing combat capabilities and expanding combat
areas, they can maximize reducing casualties, which can play
an important role in wars. So, it has become a hot spot for
research and development by countries all over the world.
According to the different areas of use, unmanned combat
platforms can be divided into aerial unmanned combat
platforms, ground unmanned combat platforms, and maritime
unmanned combat platforms. With the increasing application Fig.1 multi-domain cooperative combat form

978-1-6654-4160-5/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE 297

DOI 10.1109/ISCEIC53685.2021.00069
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 II. UNMANNED COMBAT PLATFORM MULTI-DOMAIN
COOPERATIVE COMBAT CONCEPT
A. Concept of Unmanned Combat Platform-to-Air
Cooperative Combat
Unmanned combat platform-to-air coordinated combat
refers to the combat style in which ground unmanned combat
platforms and sea surface unmanned combat platforms assist
aerial unmanned combat platforms, manned/unmanned aerial
vehicles or other air combat equipment to complete combat
missions. The existing unmanned combat platforms for air-to-
air coordinated operations, usually the unmanned combat
platforms command one/multiple manned/unmanned aerial
vehicles, and the unmanned/manned aircraft closely coordinate
with the unmanned combat platform with the support of data
link information Complete the process of information
acquisition, tactical decision-making, command guidance,
weapon launch, weapon guidance, and strike effect evaluation
to achieve combat missions [3].
Figure 2. U.S. Global Hawk UAV
III. APPLICATION OF MULTI-DOMAIN COOPERATIVE COMBAT ON
B. Unmanned combat platform-to-sea cooperative combat
concept
Unmanned combat platform-to-sea coordinated operations
refers to the process of unmanned underwater combat
equipment used for reconnaissance, camouflage, combat, fire
support, and support in sea-to-sea operations. The threat
sources, attack methods, and attack locations facing the world
today are erratic, and threats to naval operations have increased,
requiring higher early warning and combat capabilities in
operations, including maritime intelligence detection /
reconnaissance, ocean detection, battlefield preparation,
battlefield awareness, Mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare,
special operations and fire support, surface warfare, etc.
Unmanned combat platforms, especially surface unmanned
combat platforms, must play an important role in future naval
battles.
Figure 3. The "Protector" unmanned surface craft of the Israeli Navy
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C. Unmanned combat platform-to-land coordinated combat
concept
Unmanned combat platform-to-land coordinated combat
refers to a combat mode in which the ground unmanned
combat platform is the main body, and the aerial unmanned
combat platform and the maritime unmanned combat platform
assist joint operations. Integrating environmental perception,
decision-making and planning, and motion control technology,
it can complete reconnaissance and surveillance, logistics
support, clearing explosive devices, providing fire support,
communication relay, and medical assistance on the battlefield
[4]
. Under the conditions of informatization, unmanned combat
platforms have become an important supporting force for land
operations. As the main development direction of unmanned
combat platforms, ground unmanned combat platforms have
become a research hotspot in major military powers.
Figure 4. Schematic diagram of unmanned tank
UNMANNED COMBAT PLATFORM
A. Concept of Unmanned Combat Platform-to-Air
Cooperative Combat
The realization of the effectiveness of unmanned combat
platforms-to-air coordinated operations relies on reliable and
efficient communication with the control station. At present, it
is not possible to achieve rapid information transmission and
precise target attacks between the drones and various combat
platforms by relying on traditional models. And a shorter
decision-making cycle. At the same time, the command-and-
control range is limited by the geographical terrain, and the
signal intelligence is easily detected and interfered. Therefore,
the combat effectiveness of unmanned combat platforms in air-
to-air coordinated operations is greatly restricted.
As the main equipment for information acquisition, relay,
transmission and combat in the air-based combat system,
UAVs play an important role in reconnaissance, surveillance,
intelligence collection, and actual combat use. Due to the
limited ability of a single UAV to independently achieve
combat missions, some countries have put forward the concept
of "swarm", which consists of multiple UAVs forming an aerial
unmanned combat platform for coordinated operations [5]. To
fully utilize the overall combat capability, the effectiveness is
obviously greater than that of a single UAV that fights on its
own. In 2004, the U.S. Boeing company used the X-45 UAV to
fly in a two-aircraft formation for the first time; in 2012, the
U.S. successfully conducted a UAV aerial refueling test using
the “Global Hawk” UAV, marking that UAVs were in
formation. A breakthrough has been made in flight and
coordination. According to statistics from military experts, the
US military currently has more than 11,300 drones and more
than 15,000 ground robots. It is estimated that by 2040, the
number of artificial intelligence devices in the US military will
exceed that of real people.
At present, countries with high levels of UAV development
such as the United States and the United Kingdom are stepping
up research on the application of manned/UAV cooperative
operations, exploring the integration of UAVs and various
combat platforms.
Figure 5. Unmanned combat platform-to-air cooperative combat form
B. Application of unmanned combat platform-to sea
coordinated combat
The source of threats, attack methods, and attack locations
facing the world today are becoming more and more erratic and
difficult to figure out. “Asymmetric threats” are becoming
more common, and terrorist activities are becoming more
frequent. For maritime forces, the traditional “blue” The
meaning of "water" threat and "major threat axis" are different
from the past. With the changes in threats, the Navy is required
to have higher capabilities in certain areas, including maritime
intelligence detection/reconnaissance, ocean exploration,
battlefield preparation, and battlefield awareness. Mine warfare,
anti-submarine warfare, special operations and fire support,
surface warfare, etc. Underwater unmanned combat platforms
will surely play a middle role in future naval battles and play an
important role in various fields.
Unmanned combat platforms need to perform a series of
important tasks in sea-to-sea coordinated operations, including
search, discovery, identification, and destruction of trigger/non-
trigger mines; implement underwater acoustic reconnaissance;
collect hydrological information; Anti-submarine defense
system; reconnaissance of underwater hydraulic facilities and
berthing infrastructure; survey of ship hulls, etc.
At present, a variety of unmanned sea-to-sea coordinated
combat equipment has gradually been installed and used.
Unmanned surface craft and unmanned submarine systems
have important concealment capabilities outside the defense
zone, and can achieve fully or partially autonomous work and
perform predetermined tasks. The unmanned submersible was
first successfully developed by the French Navy in the 21st
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century to detect and destroy mines [6]. The main working
modes of the unmanned submarine during mine detection and
mine clearance are as follows: covert reconnaissance of
minefields. Based on the investigation information, the mother
ship can obtain relevant information about the minefields, to
select safe routes, or use the same method to remove mines and
other equipment for my clearance. Unmanned submarine
vehicles mainly adopt models developed in recent years by
Britain, France, Germany, Norway, and Sweden. Unmanned
surface craft can be used for counter-terrorism patrols. At
present, most unmanned surface craft are still in the initial
development stage. The "protector" of Israel's Rafael Advanced
Defense Company is currently the only unmanned surface
vessel that has been equipped with troops in the world [7]. Once
the "protector" finds a suspicious vessel, it can quickly
approach and reconnaissance the suspicious vessel under the
instructions of the unmanned platform. Once it is confirmed as
a threat, it will order its expulsion or use weapons. The "Anti-
Submarine Warfare Continuous Tracking Unmanned Ship"
project developed by the United States is the most valuable
project in recent years. The main method is to use high-power
active sonar to launch sound waves underwater to detect the
echo of the submarine to implement submarine tracking.
C. Application of Unmanned Combat Platform-to Land
Cooperative Combat
The types of tasks performed by unmanned combat
platforms for land-based coordinated operations can be
specifically divided into: tactical intelligence collection,
dangerous target detection and positioning, as well as area
surveillance, fire strikes, battlefield rescue, and communication
relays.
The local war under the conditions of informatization
proves that the networked command information system is the
main symbol of integrated joint operations, and it is very
important to quickly establish a complete set of communication
systems in the combat area. Unmanned combat platforms
generally have communication capabilities, which can act as
communication relay nodes in command and control, improve
the communication network, support communication between
individual squads, and between individual soldiers and
superiors, and ensure that each combat unit is accurate and
receives orders from superiors in a timely manner. Compared
with fixed communication base stations, it is more mobile and
flexible.
The U.S. Army’s modular advanced armed robot system is
a ground unmanned combat platform dedicated to
reconnaissance, surveillance, and fire strike missions. By
providing intelligence and reconnaissance, combatants can
detect battle conditions from a safe distance from enemy fire
and pass. The coordinated deployment of unmanned firepower
reduces casualties and completes support tasks.
IV. DEVELOPMENT TREND OF MULTI-DOMAIN COOPERATIVE
COMBAT FOR UNMANNED COMBAT PLATFORM
A. The development trend of unmanned combat platform-to-
air coordinated operations
x Situational awareness. Using manned/UAV to obtain
the target position, the unmanned platform can track the
same target according to the target position, and use
multiple resources to track the same target, which can
effectively improve the tracking quality, and can display
the target's untracked or untracked status in real time,
thus greatly Enhance the state perception ability of the
unmanned combat system. At the same time, the use of
interconnected unmanned combat platforms, fighters,
unmanned aerial vehicles and a variety of technologies
can effectively implement coordinated positioning of
passive or active radiation targets.
x Situational awareness. For air target attack, the UAV
formation executes the air target attack mission, and the
UAV advances and keeps the radar silent. When the
unmanned aerial vehicle reaches the enemy in a high-
speed covertly reach the range of its weapon, it turns on
the radar to detect the target, and transmits the target
information to the unmanned combat platform through
the collaborative network in real time. The unmanned
combat platform makes independent decisions and
initiates weapon launch commands to achieve Attacks
on enemy air targets. Distributed multi-task coordinated
attack, using multiple UAV formations as the main
body to perform attack combat tasks, realizing a
distributed coordinated attack combat mode. According
to the attack target and the characteristics of the
environment, the unmanned combat platform decides to
use drones with different sensors and different enemy
attack weapons. The division of labor and close
coordination of the drones reduces the single unmanned
aircraft based on improving the precision combat
capability. The purchase cost of the machine. Cross-
platform guidance is an autonomous formation of
manned and unmanned aerial vehicles. The manned
aircraft can use the unmanned aerial vehicle as an
extended weapon bay to control the launch of its
weapons. In the process of missile strike, if the attacked
ground target moves or implements electronic
interference, resulting in errors in the initial target data
of the missile, then because the manned aircraft is
outside the threat of the enemy's surface-to-air missile,
the missile can be taken over and the mid-stage control
is performed. Guidance, providing continuous target
update data to improve combat effectiveness. Off-zone
attack, unmanned combat aircraft and manned combat
aircraft formation. The manned combat aircraft is in a
safe position outside the enemy’s defense zone, and the
unmanned combat aircraft rushes into the defense zone
to directly obtain the enemy’s target location
information or receive reconnaissance information from
individual soldiers on the ground, and transmit it to the
manned combat aircraft, and the manned combat
aircraft launches it. Over-the-horizon precision guided
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air-to-ground weapons (regardless of launch). If the
target moves or changes, the unmanned combat aircraft
in the defense zone will guide the flying air-to-surface
missiles through real-time updated target position data.
x Coordinated defense. The biggest advantage of
unmanned combat platforms for air-to-air coordinated
defense is to improve threat warning capabilities. The
unmanned combat platform can be equipped with a
network of warning equipment to coordinately alert
threat targets such as incoming missiles, to enhance the
accuracy of warning about the direction and degree of
threat of the threat target. Traditional single-platform
equipment has limited number and functions of
jamming devices, and it is difficult to interfere with
enemy threats and radars simultaneously effectively in
the time domain, frequency domain, air domain, and
signal waveform. The active and passive electronic
jamming equipment on the unmanned combat platform
can realize coordinated defense. When active electronic
jamming is implemented, the members of the formation
can carry out the interference area, the interference
target, the interference timing, the interference pattern,
and the interference pattern. Interference parameters,
interference power, etc. are coordinated. When
implementing passive electronic interference, each
member of the formation will coordinate the types of
interferences, the timing of the interferences, the
number of interferences, and the time intervals of the
interferences.
B. The development trend of unmanned combat platform-to-
sea coordinated operations
The application and development prospects of unmanned
combat platforms for coordinated sea-to-sea combat are broad.
The unmanned platforms can be networked and detected to
realize the real-time perception of the battlefield situation; the
unmanned platform's communication relays are used to realize
the hinge support command and control from sensors to
weapons; The human combat platform carries guided weapons
to conduct close-range and precise strikes on time-sensitive
targets; the unmanned combat platform can achieve close
contact with the enemy and carry out information operations
such as electronic jamming or anti-radiation attacks on the
enemy; the unmanned platform can also implement unmanned
refueling , comprehensive security and other functions such as
material supply. Taking a single unmanned platform as an
example, a single-platform UAV can take advantage of its
long endurance time for early warning, reconnaissance and
situational awareness in maritime operations; under the
command and control of a manned aircraft, it can complete the
aiming calculation of the attack target and the judgment of the
weapon launch condition , Calculation of set parameters
before weapon launch, weapon launch control and post-launch
guidance control, to achieve engagement control, damage
assessment and even autonomous strikes; use the
characteristics of high altitude and long endurance for
communication relay and interference suppression; also Use
the cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and other
information obtained in the area to carry out the battlefield
environmental meteorological detection. The single-platform
unmanned submarine takes advantage of small targets, long
endurance, and concealment of deployment, and can perform
search and reconnaissance, anti-mine operations, anti-
submarine operations, underwater latent autonomous
operations, underwater defense operations, and combat
support. At present, the existing unmanned combat platforms,
especially long-range drones, and underwater unmanned
combat platforms, can provide the Chinese Navy with beyond-
horizon target locking, short-range drones or underwater
unmanned combat platforms can perform intelligence in the
East China Sea and the South China Sea, Surveillance, and
reconnaissance missions; mid-to-high altitude drones can
conduct wide-area surveillance, expand coverage, and provide
early warning capabilities.
C. The development trend of unmanned combat platform-to-
sea coordinated operation
With the gradual maturity and widespread application of
unmanned combat platform technology, the military's combat
force composition will shift from the traditional human-
oriented approach to a mixed configuration of unmanned
combat platforms, and eventually form an independent
organization of unmanned combat platforms. With the
guarantee of human-computer interaction technology, human
beings will withdraw from the frontier of war, formulate plans
and command operations behind the scenes, and achieve the
goal of war at the cost of "zero casualties"[9].
The development trend of unmanned combat platform-to-
land coordinated operations is mainly divided into the
following aspects:
x Higher intelligence advantage
x All-round, all-weather combat capability
x More diversified task execution ability
x Higher combat efficiency/cost ratio
V. CONCLUSION
With the increasing application of unmanned combat
platforms, the fields of land, sea, air, space, electromagnetics,
and networks are becoming more and more closely connected
in the combat space. The unmanned combat system is
becoming more and more complete. The traditional single-
platform, single-domain combat model plays out the combat
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effectiveness is extremely limited and no longer meets the
needs of warfare. Therefore, the combat mode of unmanned
combat platforms has gradually developed from a single
platform to a more flexible multi-platform cluster combat.
Combat missions are carried out from safe areas to carry out
reconnaissance and surveillance missions to high-risk areas to
perform mainstream combat missions. The platform control
mode has changed from simple remote control and program
control to an interactive control mode of man-machine
intelligence integration, and gradually develops towards
autonomous control mode. The system structure of the platform
has evolved from single and specialized to modularization,
generalization, and direction. Based on the definition of the
concept of unmanned combat platform multi-domain
coordinated operations, this paper explains the application
fields of unmanned combat platform multi-domain coordinated
operations, and analyses the development trend of unmanned
combat platform coordinated operations in detail, in order to
further study unmanned combat operations. Platform-related
issues provide a solid foundation.
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