Air Force plans to pit autonomous fighter drone against human pilot in dogfight to test AI warfare [4/4] - XQ-58 Valkyrie.mp4 (1/1)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...man-pilot.html

*Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan revealed plans for the test at a conference on Thursday

*Goal is to test autonomous fighter drone against human pilot in July 2021

*Fighter controlled by AI could make quicker decisions and harder maneuvers

*Pentagon is experimenting with a range of ways to use AI in battle

The Air Force plans to test an autonomous fighter drone controlled by artificial
intelligence against a human pilot in war games, it has been revealed.

Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, head of the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence
Center, said on Thursday that the Air Force Research Laboratory hope to conduct
the test in July 2021.

Shanahan, speaking at a virtual event organized by the Mitchell Institute for
Aerospace Studies, did not reveal any specific details of the planned AI fighter
jet's design or capabilities.

It's unclear what the autonomous fighter jet would look like, but it could be a
modified version of an existing plane.

However, the Air Force hopes that a fighter drone piloted by AI would be able to
react faster to opponents, as well as conduct harder, faster maneuvers that
would be impossible with a human on board, as they would overwhelm the body.

A mock dogfight is just the first step in testing such systems, however, and
Shanahan isn't convinced that AI could beat a human pilot yet.

'[Team leader Steve Rogers] is probably going to have a hard time getting to
that flight next year … when the machine beats the human,' Shanahan said. 'If he
does it, great.'

However the project heads are optimistic about the future of autonomous flying,
having watched autonomous cars develop significantly in recent years.

'Our human pilots, the really good ones, have a couple thousand hours of
experience,' Rogers told Inside Defense in 2018.

'What happens if I can augment their ability with a system that can have
literally millions of hours of training time?' he continued. 'How can I make
myself a tactical autopilot so in an air-to-air fight, this system could help
make decisions on a timeline that humans can't even begin to think about?'

An autonomous fighter prototype would be just the latest artificial intelligence
protect to emerge from the Pentagon.

Last year, the Air Force revealed footage of a new 'wingman' fighter drone that
would accompany manned jets.

The XQ-58A Valkyrie was developed in just over 2.5 years, from contract award to
first flight – a milestone that took place March 2019 at the Yuma Proving
Grounds in Arizona.

While the Air Force is often guarded about the progress of its emerging craft,
it did release a video clip online of the drone's first flight in the Arizona
skies.

The XQ-58 Valkyrie is a long-range, high subsonic unmanned air vehicle (UAV)
developed by the Air Force Research Lab in partnership with Kratos Unmanned
Aerial Systems.

The combat drone will be put through a total of five planned test flights in its
two phases of development.

This will help to evaluate and perfect system functionality, aerodynamic
performance, and launch and recovery systems, the Air Force says.

XQ-58 was developed under the Air Force Research Lab’s Low Cost Attritable
Aircraft Technology (LCAAT) portfolio, which is working to create military craft
at cheaper prices.

‘The objectives of the LCAAT initiative include designing and building UAS
faster by developing better design tools, and maturing and leveraging commercial
manufacturing processes to reduce build time and cost,’ the Air Force said in a
statement.



*