New Lockheed Martin training jet was flown by an AI for over 17 hours

[midian182]

In brief: In more news that could worry those who believe a Terminator-like doomsday is inevitable, Lockheed Martin has announced that artificial intelligence flew a training jet for 17 hours recently, marking the first time that AI has been engaged in this way on a tactical aircraft.

The Lockheed Martin VISTA (Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft) X-62A, created by Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works classified research laboratory alongside Calspan Corporation, is fitted with software that allows it to mimic the performance characteristics of other aircraft. In December, the aircraft was flown for 17 hours by AI as part of tests at the US Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County, California.

"VISTA will allow us to parallelize the development and test of cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques with new uncrewed vehicle designs," US Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) director of research Dr. M. Christopher Cotting said in a statement. "This approach, combined with focused testing on new vehicle systems as they are produced, will rapidly mature autonomy for uncrewed platforms and allow us to deliver tactically relevant capability to our warfighter."

The US Air Force recently upgraded the VISTA X-62A with Lockheed's Model Following Algorithm (MFA) and System for Autonomous Control of the Simulation (SACS), which integrate into the VISTA so it can perform advanced flight tests that focus on autonomy and AI.

In addition to its autonomous flight capabilities, the VISTA X-62A also features a high-resolution camera, a compact size, lightweight construction, and is versatile enough to be used for a wide range of applications, including scientific research, surveillance, recon, environmental monitoring, and emergency response.

Lockheed Martin says that it has been applying and deploying AI technologies for decades to help its customers maximize performance, safety, and situational awareness. The company says its implementations keep users in control while enabling them to be safer, more effective, and better able to focus on higher-level tasks.

Talk of uncrewed, AI-controlled vehicles is always going to raise concerns. Elon Musk is one of the hundreds of AI experts who previously called for a ban on 'Killer Robots.' In 2019, the army responded to these fears by insisting that the final decision to engage a target rests with humans, not machines. Just how much that alleviated people's concerns is unclear

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https://www.techspot.com/news/97599-new-lockheed-martin-training-jet-flown-ai-17.html

 

[Theinsanegamer]

*insert plot from Ace Combat 7*

 

[psycros]

*insert plot from Ace Combat 7*

Or (probably the granddaddy) Macross Plus.

 

[Thanthan]

Elon is not an AI expert… he owns a company that employs multiple AI experts… If someone has never published a peer reviewed paper on a topic in a good journal, or at the very least worked extensively with the direct subject matter, they are not ‘experts’… they just know slightly more about a topic than regular people.

 

[arrowflash]

Or (probably the granddaddy) Macross Plus.

As for me, whenever someone mentions military jets flown by AI, Yukikaze (anime) is the first that comes to mind.

Interesting that the plot in Yukikaze involves a war against alien invaders that's kept secret from the general populace. Then we have these balloon / UFO incidents, and now a jet flown by AI. Can't help but remind me of Yukikaze.

 

[Stingy McDuck]

*insert plot from Ace Combat 7*

Or (probably the granddaddy) Macross Plus.

Or Fast and the Furious. It wont take long for Toreto to fight a Jet with a flying car.

 

[yannus]

"Elon Musk is one of the hundreds of AI experts" Lol

 

[GeforcerFX]

Military is gonna jump on this and has been, they can't get enough combat and support pilots. They are going pretty heavy on the loyal wingman technology, something like this would be a big part of making those autonomous wingman more capable.

 

[wiyosaya]

Dumb humans - they think weapons mean something.

 

[Pensiveclown]

Elon musk has about as much AI expertise as a toddler.

 

[captaincranky]

Strangely enough, that just looks like an F-16 with an extra super gaudy paint job to me.

Note the air inlet:

The "trainer" moniker comes from the fact it's a "B" model, which is the two seat variant used in training.

The Viper does make a sensible starting point for this project, since it's already fully, "fly by wire".

 

[sorten]

Pretty cool! To be fair, AI control of an aircraft is several orders of magnitude easier than AI controlled automobiles, but still a useful advancement.

 

[human7]

So, I skipped the video, but can someone fill me in here? Autopilot isn't exactly new, so I'm not sure what an AI flying a plane actually accomplished. 17 hours is a long time, so maybe it accomplished in-flight refueling, which had never been done autonomously before?

Anyways, a plane that can taxi at the airport and takeoff by itself would be much more interesting to me, since planes can already do the rest of it by themselves when they are configured to do so. If this AI stunt is just an auto-configuration, that's a big yawn.

Still neat to see more automation in the cockpit, though. Maybe the regulatory advancements here are what are interesting, but since this was a military project, I doubt there were any advancements there.

 

[Lord Of Terror]

Skynet

 

[captaincranky]

OK Kidz, this is more than likely a baseline experiment for something the Air Force is calling the, "Loyal Wingman", program

It's intended to be used in conjunction with the new F-35 "Lightning II" stealth fighter.

The F-35 will fly with, and control, drones. The F-35 is equipped with a massive electronic warfare suite of soft and hardware, and is able to communicate situational awareness.to other aircraft, (and potentially ground troops as well), in the theater of operations.

As for the "17 hours" (aloft ?), I didn't think an F-16 could stay up that long, even at "loiter" speeds. Unless, I suppose, it was equipped with drop tanks.

The headline, as it stands, is either a "baby step", or classified data was withheld for the press release.

For me to concede that, "AI flew the plane", it would have to be on a runway in Alaska, instructed by NORAD to, "intercept and escort a TU-95 Russian "Bear" bomber over the Arctic Ocean, spooled itself up, taken off, and returned and landed on its own. (Without creating an international incident). American and Canadian jets fly this mission quite frequently, and it's largely a formality.

 

[StrikerRocket]

So, I skipped the video, but can someone fill me in here? Autopilot isn't exactly new, so I'm not sure what an AI flying a plane actually accomplished. 17 hours is a long time, so maybe it accomplished in-flight refueling, which had never been done autonomously before?

Anyways, a plane that can taxi at the airport and takeoff by itself would be much more interesting to me, since planes can already do the rest of it by themselves when they are configured to do so. If this AI stunt is just an auto-configuration, that's a big yawn.

Still neat to see more automation in the cockpit, though. Maybe the regulatory advancements here are what are interesting, but since this was a military project, I doubt there were any advancements there.

I think you are confusing autopilot and AI autonomous flying. Autopilot is just what it says, an autopilot: you set it for the plane to fly at set altitude at a set speed, and that's pretty much all about it. Here it's totally different: the plane takes off on its own, manoeuvers in air on its own, turns, banks on its own, no human intervention whatsoever, or IMO, that's the ultimate goal. It's way more advanced than a simple GPS driven autopilot, and for an AI to fly a F16 on its own for 17 hours is quite a feat already. At least I think so...