Last week, the U.S. Air Force verified that it had witnessed the initial victorious aerial battle between an AI-driven fighter jet and a human-operated aircraft.
The evaluation matched a manned F-16 against the X62A VISTA, a customized F-16 supported by artificial intelligence. The trial took happened at Edwards Air Force Base in California as a component of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program.
DARPA released recorded the historic incident on April 17. The video shows two jets maneuvering at speeds reaching 1,200 mph. At one stage, the AI plane flew within 2,000 feet of its human counterpart.
DARPA’s ACE program has been making substantial progress in developing independent capabilities. Although the outcome of the aerial battle remains confidential, Lt. Col. Ryan Hefron, ACE program manager, said noted that the AI agents performed effectively.
“We had numerous test goals that we aimed to accomplish in that first round of tests. So inquiring about the victor doesn't completely capture the complexity of the testing we carried out. However, what I can say is that the objective of the test was truly to establish a method to demonstrate that we can securely evaluate these AI agents in a safety-critical air combat setting,” Hefron informed reporters on April 19, per Defense One.
As military technology continues to advance, aerial battles have become increasingly uncommon. For instance, during the initial Gulf War in 1991, the U.S. lost a single F-18. In contrast, during the Vietnam War, between 1962 and 1973, 1,737 fixed-wing aircraft were lost during combat.
