COMB: A blockchain-based framework for secure military UAV swarm operations

Abstract

This study aims to enhance the performance of military drone swarms by implementing a practical technological model called the Blockchain-Based Military Consortium (COMB). Instead of a centralized command model, the COMB model distributes control across all drones in the swarm by use the Hyperledger Fabric platform. The drones record mission steps and coordinates in a shared, decentral log. This avoids the drawbacks of centralized control. Furthermore, smart contracts handle routine rules. An Intermediate File System (IPFS) is used to ensure that mission data remains available. To explore how this works, we created a virtual environment and simulated a swarm of up to 500 drones. The system was subjected to GPS spoofing, fake commands, and compromised nodes. On average, command delays remained around 2.3 milliseconds, blocks were confirmed in about 1.5 seconds, and a 15% resource margin was maintained as a reserve. In these tests, approximately 98.6% of impersonation attempts were detected and addressed. The testing approach reduced costs by about 83% compared to traditional live trials. Overall, the results suggest that the COMB system could provide a starting point for managing drone swarms. The syetem needs field testing, particularly on a larger scale, but these early steps provide a basic understanding for evolve this approach over time.