Drone swarms as false targets

Could drone swarms be used to make an opponent think major assets are present?

Yes. Decoy and deception missions may become one of the more durable uses for inexpensive drone swarms.

Drone swarms could imitate larger assets and complicate an opponent's picture. The expectation is that deception may become more useful than some cheap attack roles as defences improve. NATO exercises described in the discussion found small drones vulnerable to troops trained to shoot them down with shotguns. More expensive drones remained a harder problem, so the claim is limited to the small types that these weapons can reach and destroy.