AI as Top Gun: US Air Force successfully tests their first AI-controlled fighter jet

It seems that the US Air Force and the US Navy want to replace pilots like Captain Pete Mitchell with AI-controlled fighter jets. No, we are not describing the plot of Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick, but what the United States Department of Defense is actually trying to accomplish in a recent project of theirs. A joint Department of Defense team executed 12 artificial intelligence or AI flight tests in which AI agents piloted a modified F-16 fighter jet to perform advanced fighter manoeuvres. AI in the cockpit Unmanned Planes and drones are not exactly a new concept. Technologically advanced militaries and air forces and have used remote-controlled drones for decades now, and have been trying to put a remote-controlled fighter jet into the battlefield for years. However, the control has always been with human beings. According to the US Air Force, an autonomous jet aircraft has already flown for 17 hours while performing complex fighter manoeuvres and beyond visual range engagements. During the first half of December 2022, the X-62A Variable Stability In-Flight Simulator Test Aircraft, or VISTA, was put to the test in 12 distinct flight tests by the Autonomous Air Combat Operations (AACO) and Air Combat Evolution (ACE) AI agents from the Air Force Research Lab and DARPA. According to Dr. Malcolm Cotting, the head of research for the US Air Force Test Pilot School, “The X-62A VISTA team has proved with this test campaign that they are capable of sophisticated AI test missions that speed the development and testing of autonomy capabilities for the DOD." The new intelligent jet The new X-62 initially took to the air in 1992 in the form of a two-seat Block 30 F-16D, spending most of its time at the Air Force Test Pilot’s School at Edwards AFB. It was redesignated as the X-62A in 2021 from the NF-16D (the N signifying it was a special test aircraft). The aircraft has undergone a number of modifications over the years that enable it to imitate the flight characteristics of other fixed-wing aircraft, serving as a useful training ground for both human test pilots in the past and, more recently, AI pilots.

“We must fly our AI-driven autonomy agents once they have been trained to utilise high-performance computing, modelling, and simulation in order to verify the difference between the simulator and actual flights. It is essential to have an aircraft like the X-62 for quick flight testing of these autonomous characteristics” an AACO official remarked. The need for a human in the cockpit The X-62A is referred to by the Air Force as “a flying test accelerator.” Thanks to the adjustments made as part of the VISTA programme, the test team may fly a flight, land, quickly update or alter the AI agent, and then fly another test mission within hours. A human pilot is present in the cockpit during the flights and is prepared to take control if required. “In order to test the algorithms under varied beginning conditions, against various simulated opponents, and with simulated armament capabilities, we conducted several sorties (takeoffs and landings) with numerous test points completed on each sortie. While there were no significant problems, there were some variations in the outcomes from simulations, which is to be expected when going from virtual to real.   This emphasises the significance of testing advanced autonomous capabilities both in flight and on testbeds like VISTA, which allowed us to learn lessons and iterate much more quickly than with other air vehicles “ACE’s DARPA programme manager, Air Force Lt. Col. Ryan “Hal” Hefron, said this. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.