AI may finally replace pilots in combat aircraft.
A new Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/USAF Test Pilot School project called Air Combat Evolution, has tested a modified F-16 aircraft for combat operations without pilots or remote operation. The artificial intelligence-based system has been flight tested in simulated dogfights with human piloted aircraft, and has even carried Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, without human pilot intervention.
The modified F-16 airplane, called the X-62A, was originally designed to simulate the flight characteristics of multiple airplanes, suggesting the development of an AI system that could be easily adapted to many different airframes.
The implications for the future of the fighter pilot are clear: current fighter aircraft are capable of sustained G loadings that are unendurable for a human being, and this automation may free the true performance capability of today’s jets. The end of the fighter pilot may be at hand.
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