The Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced that an experimental fighter jet faced off against an F-16 in the first ever artificial intelligence-powered dogfight.
And a successful effort to put the X-62A VISTA into actual air combat could help the Air Force further refine its plans for an autonomous unmanned aircraft known as a cooperative fighter, officials said. told reporters Friday.
VISTA stands for Variable In-flight Simulator Aircraft, a heavily modified F-16 operated by the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The service has been used to test cutting-edge aerospace technology for more than 30 years, and more recently to test autonomous flight capabilities.
DARPA's Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program has been working for the past four years to improve how the military uses AI in air combat and build confidence among airmen that autonomous technologies can perform safely and reliably in combat. Ta.
Until now, the military has relied on autonomy for aspects of flight that are predictable, based on a set of known rules, such as automated ground collision avoidance systems that keep jets like the F-35 from crashing. But Col. James Valpiani, commander of the Air Force Test Pilot School, said that visual dogfights (arguably the most dangerous and unpredictable form of flight a pilot can engage in) are a completely different set of things that AI should learn. said that it represents the skills of
“Dog fighting presents a very important challenge to the question of autonomy,” Valpiani said. “It's inherently very dangerous. This is one of the most difficult abilities a military aviator must master.”
The ACE program began with an AI agent controlling a mock F-16 in dogfights on a computer. DARPA said in a video posted online that its AI-controlled mock F-16 performed 50-50 against human pilots. But they had not yet been trained to follow safety guidelines to prevent pilots from destroying their jets, as well as other ethical requirements such as combat training rules and weapons combat zones.
The Air Force and DARPA began flight testing of an AI agent flying VISTA in December 2022 and April 2023. And in September 2023, the time has come for VISTA to face off against human pilots.
For two weeks, VISTA flew against F-16s in a variety of scenarios, including situations where the aircraft started at a disadvantage against human-piloted jets. VISTA began with defensive flights to build confidence in flight safety before switching to intense offensive maneuvers. Valpiani said the jets flew aggressively at speeds of up to 1,200 mph within 600 feet of each other, including nose-to-nose passes and vertical maneuvers.
Two pilots were in VISTA's cockpit to monitor the system and test performance by switching between different AI agents, but they were not required to take over control. VISTA conducted 21 test flights between December 2022 and September 2023.
Valpiani and Lt. Col. Ryan Heffron, DARPA's ACE program manager, said the AI-powered VISTA performed well and tested a variety of agents with several different capabilities. But they did not say how many times VISTA has defeated the manned F-16.
“The purpose of the test was to demonstrate that these AI agents can be safely tested in a safety-critical air combat environment,” Heffron said.
Heffron and Valpiani said the ACE program has learned several lessons from the air combat tests, including how to quickly adapt and upload AI software to jets already in flight. .
Heffron said the program next plans to hold more VISTA vs. F-16 matches to hone techniques and test different scenarios.
They declined to say whether the ACE program's air combat efforts could lead to future fighter squadrons with no pilots in the cockpit, saying that such “long-range vision” issues are more at the forefront of Air Force leadership. Said it was suitable. But Valpiani pointed out that developments such as Auto-GCAS do not replace the need for pilots to be continuously aware of the terrain, but only serve as a backup failsafe.
And the lessons learned from ACE could have applications beyond air combat, they said. ACE will enable the service to build unmanned CCAs that can fly autonomously alongside manned combat aircraft such as the F-35 and next-generation air superiority platforms to carry out missions such as airstrikes and reconnaissance operations.
“The X-62A program and DARPA's ACE program are not primarily designed for air combat,” Heffron said. “They really aim to build trust in responsible AI. The key takeaway from the September event is that it can be done safely and it can be done effectively. ”
Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall is so confident in the progress of the ACE program that he plans to soon fly as a passenger on the AI-operated VISTA. DARPA and the Air Force did not provide more specifics about when Kendall would fly with VISTA.
“There's going to be a pilot with me who's just going to watch the autonomous technology work, just like me,” Kendall told senators during an April 9 budget hearing. I hope I won't have to pilot it anymore.” ”
Stephen Losey is Defense News' air warfare reporter. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues for Air Force Times and the Department of Defense, special operations and air combat for Military.com. He traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.