An AI piloting system developed by Heron Systems, a Maryland-based defense contractor, defeated one of the Air Force’s top F-16 fighter pilots 5-0 in DARPA’s simulated aerial dogfight contest last week.
“It’s a giant leap,” said DARPA’s Justin (call sign “Glock”) Mock, who served as a commentator on the match.
One of the hosts during the simulated dogfight noted the AI system’s “superhuman” shooting capabilities. That produced an edge over the human pilot, they said said.
Fully automated fighter jets are still years away but the potential of AI systems helping human pilots is the current vision, experts say.
“I think what we’re seeing today is the beginning of something I’m going to call human-machine symbiosis…” said Timothy Grayson, director of the Strategic Technology Office at DARPA
“Let’s think about the human sitting in the cockpit, being flown by one of these AI algorithms as truly being one weapon system, where the human is focusing on what the human does best [like higher order strategic thinking] and the AI is doing what the AI does best,” he added.