Autonomous F-16 Fighters Are 'Roughly Even' with Human Pilots

These aircraft were built with human limitations in mind, take away the human dependency and you can engineer aircraft capable of much higher Gs for longer.

This is quite a dangerous mindset, pushing for AI weapons with limited constraints:<p>&gt; “I think the future is becoming clearer,” Kendall continued. “I think the only question that really may remain is who’s going to get there first? And what are the constraints we want to place on ourselves that will limit our operational effectiveness compared to our adversaries and how we manage our way through that.”<p>It has some resemblance to the arms race to develop a nuclear weapon. Several people were exposed to radiation, tests killed civilians, all because both sides were afraid of not being the first.

I wanted to make a joke how Sopwith [0] enemy fighters were already good in the 80s but this is kinda terrifying.<p>Why are they trying to retrofit an F16, a whole new platform without human-required accommodations would make more sense..<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Sopwith_(video_game)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Sopwith_(video_game)</a>

Seeing term &quot;loyal wingman&quot; - meaning an unmanned combat air vehicle - makes me ask: Are the human pilots not considered loyal enough? Maybe so. The humans might hesitate on an order to shoot whereas the AI will not. I prefer the human that at least hesitates to shoot at a target that will cause substantial &quot;collateral damage&quot;.

I think what is important to note is that fighter jets already make use of highly sophisticated and automated weapons. E.g. Air-to-air missiles, which can accurately track and hit a target over extremely long distances.<p>It seems quite unsurprising that humans don&#x27;t excel at flying modern fighter jets.

<i>The Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program is developing autonomous aircraft that are likely to be part of the larger NGAD effort.<p>It would consist of the unmanned, loyal wingmen that would support a manned fighter.</i><p>How long before that&#x27;s flipped and the manned fighter is supporting the UAV?

Faster ODA loop, much shallower incorporation of energy tactics and greater strategy. F-16 is not an energy fighter though, it&#x27;s a dog fighter (at least in original design). Not surprising to see much faster ODA loop win out.

Finally some really cool news.<p>Especially since this is a dogfight and not an air-to-air missile exchange.

Would be interesting to know if the AI came up with new maneuvers.