An AI-powered fighter jet took the Air Force chief for a historic ride. What that means for the war

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, California (AP) —

As the afternoon sun shone, an experimental orange-and-white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar characteristic of the U.S. Air Force. But the dogfight that followed was unlike any other: this F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence, not a human pilot. And in the front seat was Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.

AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the Air Force has stepped in aggressively. Although the technology is not yet fully developed, the service plans an AI-enabled fleet of more than 1,000 unmanned combat aircraft, the first of which will be operational in 2028.

It was fitting that the dogfight took place at Edwards Air Force Base, a massive desert base where Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound and the military incubated its most secret advances in aerospace. In secret simulators and buildings with layers of protection against surveillance, a new generation of test pilots trains AI agents to fly in war. Kendall traveled here to watch AI fly in real time and make a public statement of confidence in its future role in air combat.

“It’s a safety risk if you don’t have it. At this point we have to have it,” Kendall said in an interview with The Associated Press after he landed. The AP, along with NBC, was allowed to witness the secret flight on the condition that it not be reported until it was completed due to operational security concerns.

This image from an external video released by the U.S. Air Force shows Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall during his experimental flight in the cockpit of an autonomous fighter X-62A VISTA aircraft over Edwards Air Base, California, on Thursday, May 2, 2024. The AI-controlled flights serve as a public statement of confidence in the future role of AI in air combat. (U.S. Air Force photo via AP)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

The AI-controlled F-16, named Vista, flew Kendall in lightning-fast maneuvers at speeds of more than 550 miles per hour, which exerted a pressure on his body with a force of five times the force of gravity. It went almost nose-to-nose with a second human-piloted F-16 as both planes raced within 300 meters of each other, twisting and looping in an attempt to force their opponent into vulnerable positions.

At the end of the hour-long flight, Kendall climbed out of the cockpit, grinning. He said he had seen enough during his flight that he would trust this still-learning AI with the ability to decide whether or not to launch weapons.

There is a lot of resistance to that idea. Arms control experts and humanitarian groups are deeply concerned that AI could one day autonomously drop bombs that kill people without further human consultation, and they are seeking greater restrictions on its use.

“There are widespread and serious concerns about ceding life and death decisions to sensors and software,” the International Committee of the Red Cross warned. Autonomous weapons “are an immediate concern and require an urgent international political response.”

The military’s shift to AI-enabled aircraft is driven by safety, cost and strategic capabilities. For example, if the US and China were to come into conflict, the current air force fleet of expensive, manned fighter aircraft will be vulnerable because of both sides’ gains in electronic warfare, space and air defense systems. China’s air force is on track to outnumber the US and is also amassing a fleet of flying unmanned weapons.

Future war scenarios envision swarms of U.S. unmanned aircraft launching a pre-attack on enemy defenses to allow the U.S. to penetrate airspace without major risk to pilots’ lives. But the shift is also driven by money. The Air Force continues to be hampered by production delays and cost overruns on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is estimated to cost $1.7 trillion.

Smaller and cheaper AI-driven unmanned jets are the way forward, Kendall said.

Vista’s military operators say no other country in the world has an AI jet like this, where the software first learns about millions of data points in a simulator and then tests its conclusions during actual flights. That real-world performance data is then fed back into the simulator, where the AI ​​then processes it to learn more.

China has AI, but there is no evidence it has found a way to conduct tests outside of a simulator. And like a petty officer learning tactics for the first time, some lessons can only be learned in the air, Vista’s test pilots said.

Until you actually fly, “it’s all guesswork,” said chief test pilot Bill Gray. “And the longer it takes to figure that out, the longer it will take before you have usable systems.”

Vista conducted its first AI-driven dogfight in September 2023, and there have only been about two dozen similar sorties since then. But the programs learn so quickly from each command that some AI versions being tested on Vista are already beating human pilots in air-to-air combat.

The pilots at this base are aware that in some ways they are training their replacements or shaping a future structure in which fewer are needed.

But they also say they wouldn’t want to face an adversary that has AI-controlled aircraft if the US doesn’t also have its own fleet.

“We have to keep running. And we have to run fast,” Kendall said.

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