By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
Will artificial intelligence turn the stereotypical, swaggering fighter jock into a dinosaur?
Not for a while – if ever. But a couple of recent tests by the US Air Force show that AI will play a bigger role in the cockpit of the future.
Last week, Lockheed Martin’s famed Skunk Works successfully showed how AI could be used in a dogfighting scenario. Lockheed teamed up with the University of Iowa’s Operator Performance Laboratory, using one of the lab’s L-29 Delfin jets in what was called the first live exercise of a new flight interface.
Lockheed says that flew and conducted tactical exercises using heading, speed and altitude commands. Each flight involved eight test cases, such as head-to-head fights and missile support scenarios. The AI was described as “intentional and decisive.”
“Live flight tests are a crucial aspect of advancing our expertise in AI and autonomy,” said Matthew “Gabe” Beard, manager of the Skunk Works’ autonomy/AI and machine learning engineering. “These flights are powerful demonstrations of our ability to quickly and affordably develop and test operationally relevant AI capabilities.”
While there’s talk of autonomy – that is, planes flying on their own –Lockheed was quick to point out that “humans are and will remain on-the-loop, providing final decision-making authority…”
The test in Iowa came a little more than a month after Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall took an historic ride in an F-16 controlled by AI. Kendall flew in the front seat, while a “safety pilot” was in the back – and never touched the controls. The plane reportedly flew over 550 miles an hour and came within a thousand feet of a human-piloted F-16 in a mock dogfight.
Afterwards, Kendall told the Associated Press, “It’s a security risk not to have it. At this point, we have to have it.”
The flight took place at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where testing takes place for VISTA – Variable In-Flight Simulation Test Aircraft. The Air Force also is testing artificial intelligence on F-6s at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. There, F-16s are being modified into test programs to rapidly evaluate autonomous capabilities. Pilots will be in the cockpit when the tests are carried out.
So what’s the future for would-be fighter aces? The Air Force sees it as manned fighter planes surrounded by drone wingmen. The goal is to team a thousand or so of these collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) with fifth or sixth-generation combat jets. In a conflict with, say, China, thousands of aircraft would most likely be needed – and relatively inexpensive drones are the obvious force multiplier.
“The technology is there now, where we can talk about a formation of a manned aircraft controlling multiple unmanned aircraft,” Kendall said in 2022. “There’s enough technology in existence from programs that we’ve already conducted, it convinces me that’s not a crazy idea.”
