Days ago an unprecedented milestone occurred: a fighter jet controlled by artificial intelligence led to Frank Kendall, Secretary of the United States Air Force, on a simulation flight at Edwards Base in California, famous for its history of aerospace innovation and classified research. The F-16, called Viewdemonstrated its ability to perform maneuvers at high speed and with great precision, challenging another F-16 piloted by a human in an exciting aerial duel.
Despite concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in military operations, Kendall expressed confidence in the role it will play in the future of air combat. In fact, although the technology is not yet fully developed, the United States Air Force plans to create a fleet of more than 1,000 unmanned combat aircraft by 2028.
“Not having it is a security risk. “Right now, we have to have it”said the Secretary of the North American Air Force in an interview with the agency The Associated Press after landing.
And he added: “It performs very complicated tasks, using new technologies that involve very powerful computing and advanced mathematics to solve problems that previously could not be solved with computers. Basically, the way we use AI automation is to create a situation for an intervention, so to speak, and then turn on the automation and let it control the plane for a period of time (a minute or two). Then it turns off again. And there are a series of safety factors, such as at what altitude we have to be, at what distance we can approach the other plane…”
That agency, together with the chain NBCobtained permission to witness the secret flight on the condition that it would not be reported until it had ended for operational security reasons.
During the simulation flight the F-16 performed maneuvers at more than 880 kilometers per hour. According to what was told to the press, he faced almost hand-to-hand with a second F-16 piloted by a human while both planes traveled just 300 meters from each other, twisting and turning to try to force his opponent to vulnerable positions.
After starring in this milestone in North American aviation, Kendall assured that he saw enough to trust the artificial intelligence adopted to this fighter jet.
There is a lot of opposition to that idea. Arms control experts and humanitarian groups are deeply concerned about the possibility that artificial intelligence will one day be capable of autonomously dropping bombs that kill people without human intervention.
Nevertheless, The North American official asserted that there will always be human supervision in the system when weapons are used. He also considered that smaller, cheaper drones controlled by artificial intelligence are the way to go.
Military Vista operators claim that no other country has an airplane with artificial intelligence like this one, in which the software first learns from millions of data points in a simulator and then tests its conclusions during real flights. That real-world performance data is fed back into the simulator, where the AI processes it to learn more.
China, one of the United States’ biggest concerns, has artificial intelligence, but there is no indication that it has found a way to test it outside of a simulator. “It’s all guesswork (…) And the longer it takes you to figure it out, the longer it takes you to have useful systems,” said the chief test pilot. Bill Gray.
Vista flew its first AI-controlled dogfight in September 2023, and there have only been about two dozen similar flights since. But the programs are learning so quickly from each combat that some versions of AI being tested in Vista are already outperforming human pilots in air-to-air combat.
The pilots at this base are aware that in some respects they may be training their replacements or shaping a future build in which fewer of them are needed. But they also say they wouldn’t want to be in the sky against an adversary that has AI-controlled planes if the US doesn’t also have its own fleet.
“We have to keep moving forward. And we have to move quickly”Kendall remarked. And she explained: “The computer is not going to get tired, it is not afraid. “It’s going to follow your rules and do the closest thing to a perfect maneuver, whereas humans are going to have some variability in their performance.”
