NATO has awarded funding to University of Wollongong researchers to develop advanced artificial intelligence technologies aimed at protecting coordinated drone systems from cyber attacks in high-risk operational environments.
The A$1.8 million international research collaboration will focus on strengthening the resilience and security of intelligent multi-drone systems, which are increasingly deployed across defence operations, disaster and emergency response, environmental monitoring and the protection of critical infrastructure.
The project, titled Robustness against Adversarial Attacks for Intelligent Multi Drone Agents (RAID), is funded through NATO’s Science for Peace and Security Programme and brings together experts in cryptography, cybersecurity, robotics, autonomous systems and artificial intelligence from across Europe and Australia.
UOW’s contribution to the project will be led by Distinguished Professor Willy Susilo, Director of the Institute of Cybersecurity and Cryptology and Australian Laureate Fellow, alongside Professor Son Lam Phung and Professor Casey Chow from the Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences. The university will receive A$382,500 in funding as part of the collaboration.
Susilo said the research reflects the growing global importance of secure and trustworthy AI systems as autonomy becomes more deeply embedded in mission-critical technologies. He said improving the resilience of intelligent drone systems has relevance beyond defence, extending to civilian applications such as disaster response, environmental monitoring and infrastructure protection.
The project will see researchers develop AI-driven techniques capable of resisting adversarial attacks designed to deceive or disrupt autonomous drones, detecting anomalous or malicious behaviour in real time, and implementing multi-layered defensive architectures incorporating sensor fusion and cryptographic protection.
The research will address a range of emerging threats, including spoofing, signal jamming, data poisoning and physical interference, which could otherwise compromise mission outcomes or public safety.
UOW researchers will work alongside international partners from the University of Oulu in Finland, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Spain, and City, University of London, which is leading the project.
Outcomes from the RAID program are expected to include open-source frameworks, benchmark datasets, secure integration guidelines and field-tested prototypes, supporting governments, industry and research organisations in the safe deployment of intelligent drone technologie
