AI "manned" fighter jets

[Skanky Vamp]

Yeah, because nothing could go wrong here...


AI has shown that it can ace many things, from winning art & photography prizes to surpassing medical exams. Still not impressive enough?

Well, Lockheed Martin and the US Air Force have quite literally raised the benchmark to the skies. In an series of tests performed in December, the aerospace company set its VISTA X-62A on a modified F-16D aircraft piloted by AI for more than 17 hours. The VISTA, in its name, stands for Variable In-Flight Simulation Test Aircraft. As part of the simulation test, a pair of Getac tablets were installed in both cockpits during the flight that houses the company’s AI system.

The software can initially perform different characteristics of an aircraft for analysis, and this time it took on the form of a human pilot. The project’s primary goal is to one day send planes up into the sky autonomously, and this new achievement brings us one step closer to that future.

The military is gearing up for such a reality as the director of research Dr M. Christopher Cotting, noted that VISTA could help the organization plan and design uncrewed vehicles. Currently, the US Air Force Test Pilot School uses Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works classified research facility in partnership with Calspan Corporation to replicate the flying patterns of different aircraft.

According to Lockheed Martin, this is the first time “AI engaged on a tactical air flight.”

Maintaining air force fleets can be pretty cost-inducive, and simulations and AI-powered vehicles might be the way of the future. The only question is if it will ever cross to the commercial sector.

 

[Cohen]

I used to live near Lockheed Martin in Atlanta and I always wondered what they had going on over there. I should have investigated more..

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I used to live near Lockheed Martin in Atlanta and I always wondered what they had going on over there. I should have investigated more..

Hell yeah. Just to think the stuff they are releasing today and everyone is marvelling at the advancements they have been working on for decades and it's all old tech to them.

 

[thrasherpix]

I'm curious how they'll protect the integrity of these planes, even if they do perform as desired.

I'm also curious what even one cosmic ray at the wrong spot on a plane (easier if high enough) could do when more than one plane that was manned crashed because of something presumably like that which scrambled its sensors and parameters (and it was found that the wrong person won an election--thankfully by such an impossible number that it was closely examined--because of a cosmic ray hitting it just right that messed up how the votes were counted, just like it might mess up what a fighter considers "friendlies" and "enemies")...and if they were armed? Yikes. I'm sure they'd do all they can to protect them, but no protection is perfect. If a solar storm brought us to our knees prompting other nations that weathered it better to make others "protectorates" (invade), it might be the worst time to send them out even if they were protected from much of the solar wind.

On the other hand, humans screw up all the time, too.

But I'm glad it was a human in charge in Russia in the early 80s when their system mistook a cloud for a nuclear missile from the USA and his job was to retaliate with a nuclear strike, but he refused to believe it as it didn't make sense. Would an AI be so careful?