Swarming (military) - Reviewing Swarming and Non-swarming Conflict

Reviewing Swarming and Non-swarming Conflict

Major differences from swarming in nature include the deliberate triggering of swarming, and continual synchronization both to avoid fratricide and to apply the forces available in the most effective way. Swarming operations may have more local autonomy than in traditional command and control, but there is still coordination. A unit that fails to coordinate becomes a prime candidate for fratricide (i.e., being attacked by its own side) if its own side does not recognize it.

From a military tactical standpoint, there are four basic doctrines, of which swarming is one:

• swarming
• chaotic melee
• brute-force massing
• nimble manoeuvre

Melee is unorganized and random/chaotic fighting, in contrast with the distributed organization of swarming. Examples of melee are tribal warfare, modern gang fighting, World War I dogfights, ancient naval conflicts and modern urban warfare. Massing, is an organized way of warfare in which armies use strict structure to have such a large mass they can overwhelm the enemy. Manoeuvre is similar to mass except that mass is concentrated at a particular point.

Not every converging operation is swarming. "...the phrase “convergent attack” could be stretched to include every case in history in which an army or unit ended up surrounded by the enemy and attacked from all sides during the course of a battle. Encircling and surrounding an enemy has always been a desirable goal: It cuts off the enemy’s supply lines and destroys his morale by cutting off any possible retreat. The distinction is that swarming implies a convergent attack by many units as the primary manoeuvre from the start of the battle or campaign, not the convergent attacks that result as a matter of course when some unit becomes isolated and encircled because of some other manoeuvre.