The Drone Swarm Debate UANI Warned About in 2023

A recent CNN report concerning a U.S. F-15 pilot shot down over Iran have drawn attention to a troubling reality that UANI has been warning about for years. According to intelligence officials, the pilot described encountering a synchronized formation of Iranian drones moving together in the sky like a "jellyfish armada" i.e. a coordinated “drone swarm” rather than a bunch of individual UAVs. Military planners increasingly recognize that the battlefield of the future is likely to be defined by such networks of smaller, interconnected systems, operating together with speed and precision.

At United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), we have long argued that policymakers must look beyond sanctions, export controls, and weapons transfers to address the academic pipeline that can help develop the technologies underpinning advanced military capabilities. Three years ago, UANI wrote to multiple universities raising concerns about academic collaborations involving sanctioned Iranian institutions and entities connected to the Iranian regime, specifically with respect to drones.

One specific example involved research collaboration between Australia's University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Iran's Sharif University of Technology (SUT). UANI identified the collaboration and, in September 2023, wrote to UNSW raising concerns about research involving drone communications and technologies relevant to unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) networks. The issue was later examined by The Guardian in a 2024 investigation, “Academics in US, UK and Australia collaborated on drone research with Iranian university close to regime.” As The Guardian reported, UANI had first brought the research to attention and highlighted it as among the most concerning examples of academic collaboration involving Iranian institutions linked to the regime. 

The academic paper examined communications techniques for networks employing unmanned aerial vehicles, specifically focused on improving the security of communications among multiple drones operating simultaneously. The research tested a communications method known as Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) in a simulated environment involving multiple drones in the sky and deliberate eavesdroppers attempting to intercept communications.

The significance was the potential application. The research, according to an outside expert engaged by UANI, appeared to describe a “signal processing method that uses multiple signals instead of one, to control swarms of drones in the air, with less risk of a third party intercepting the signals and/or controlling the drones." It appeared to be "valuable research for UAV swarm deployment."

The Islamic Republic of Iran is not a neutral actor engaged in purely academic pursuits for the sake of knowledge for knowledge’s sake. As The Guardian noted, UANI also brought to light a decree from the Iranian government issued in 2021 calling for “collaborations with national and international [university] departments” and explicitly prioritizing “automated and unmanned equipment (drones)”.

Predictably then, Iran has also become one of the world's leading exporters of drone warfare. Iranian-designed Shahed drones have been used extensively by Russia in its war against Ukraine, attacking civilian populations and critical infrastructure. Recent reporting has also highlighted concerns about the spread of Russian and Iranian drone technology elsewhere, including in Cuba, bringing these capabilities close to the United States itself. And it continues to provide drones to its non-state terrorist proxies and partners across the Middle East, continually threatening regional and international security. 

Years ago, UANI raised concerns about research involving the secure control and communication of multiple drones operating simultaneously. Today, we hear a highly plausible account from an American pilot encountered precisely the kind of coordinated drone activity that depends on scientific understanding and research of the kind exposed by UANI.

What the pilot saw exactly is a question for military experts but it clearly reinforces the point that the next stage in drone warfare, allowing large numbers of drones to operate together, will be highly dependent on communications and networking technologies.

UANI’s concern remains that institutions tied to the Iranian regime can gain access to ostensibly civilian research in fields with military use: communications, resilient networking, autonomous coordination, and swarm deployment. 

Naturally, these capabilities are developed over years through research, experimentation, collaboration, and refinement. The issue is not a single paper but rather the cumulative effect of academic relationships that may help advance capabilities with significant military relevance.

As Iranian drones continue to evolve and proliferate, the question is no longer whether these technologies have strategic significance. It’s whether Western institutions are doing enough to recognize and mitigate the risks associated with the transfer of knowledge helping to enhance these capabilities.

The next generation of warfare will be shaped by the research partnerships, technical expertise, and academic networks that help make these weapons systems possible. By the time a drone swarm appears in the sky, searching in this case for a downed American pilot, the research that enabled it is already years old.