WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Air Force fighter jets recently squared off in a dogfight in California. One was flown by a pilot. The other wasn’t.
That second jet was piloted by artificial intelligence, with the Air Force’s highest-ranking civilian riding along in the front seat. It was the ultimate display of how far the Air Force has come in developing a technology with its roots in the 1950s. But it’s only a hint of the technology yet to come.
The United States is competing to stay ahead of China on AI and its use in weapon systems. The focus on AI has generated public concern that future wars will be fought by machines that select and strike targets without direct human intervention. Officials say this will never happen, at least not on the U.S. side. But there are questions about what a potential adversary would allow, and the military sees no alternative but to get U.S. capabilities fielded fast.
“Whether you want to call it a race or not, it certainly is,” said Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Both of us have recognized that this will be a very critical element of the future battlefield. China’s working on it as hard as we are.”
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This article caught my attention only because AI can apparently fly and know its location without GPS. Midway through my career the Air Force began removing Navigators and redundant navigational aids and relied more and more on GPS for it's aircraft. I thought this was dumb and dumber as I figured in a major war there would be a good chance of GPS becoming unreliable/unusable. The ability to fly missions without having to rely upon GPS would be a major asset to airborne warfighting. If this capability is really there, I'm quite pleased to see it.
Disclaimer: among other titles I hold the title of Master Navigator.
That second jet was piloted by artificial intelligence, with the Air Force’s highest-ranking civilian riding along in the front seat. It was the ultimate display of how far the Air Force has come in developing a technology with its roots in the 1950s. But it’s only a hint of the technology yet to come.
The United States is competing to stay ahead of China on AI and its use in weapon systems. The focus on AI has generated public concern that future wars will be fought by machines that select and strike targets without direct human intervention. Officials say this will never happen, at least not on the U.S. side. But there are questions about what a potential adversary would allow, and the military sees no alternative but to get U.S. capabilities fielded fast.
“Whether you want to call it a race or not, it certainly is,” said Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Both of us have recognized that this will be a very critical element of the future battlefield. China’s working on it as hard as we are.”
US aims to stay ahead of China in using AI to fly fighter jets, navigate without GPS and more
Two Air Force fighter jets recently squared off in a dogfight in California. It was the ultimate display of how far the Air Force has come in developing a technology with its roots in the 1950s. “Whether you want to call it a race or not, it certainly is,” said Adm. Christopher Grady, vice...
This article caught my attention only because AI can apparently fly and know its location without GPS. Midway through my career the Air Force began removing Navigators and redundant navigational aids and relied more and more on GPS for it's aircraft. I thought this was dumb and dumber as I figured in a major war there would be a good chance of GPS becoming unreliable/unusable. The ability to fly missions without having to rely upon GPS would be a major asset to airborne warfighting. If this capability is really there, I'm quite pleased to see it.
Disclaimer: among other titles I hold the title of Master Navigator.
