9 mai 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Autre défense

DARPA: Training AI to Win a Dogfight

Artificial intelligence has defeated chess grandmasters, Go champions, professional poker players, and, now, world-class human experts in the online strategy games Dota 2 and StarCraft II. No AI currently exists, however, that can outduel a human strapped into a fighter jet in a high-speed, high-G dogfight. As modern warfare evolves to incorporate more human-machine teaming, DARPA seeks to automate air-to-air combat, enabling reaction times at machine speeds and freeing pilots to concentrate on the larger air battle.

Turning aerial dogfighting over to AI is less about dogfighting, which should be rare in the future, and more about giving pilots the confidence that AI and automation can handle a high-end fight. As soon as new human fighter pilots learn to take-off, navigate, and land, they are taught aerial combat maneuvers. Contrary to popular belief, new fighter pilots learn to dogfight because it represents a crucible where pilot performance and trust can be refined. To accelerate the transformation of pilots from aircraft operators to mission battle commanders — who can entrust dynamic air combat tasks to unmanned, semi-autonomous airborne assets from the cockpit — the AI must first prove it can handle the basics.

To pursue this vision, DARPA created the Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program. ACE aims to increase warfighter trust in autonomous combat technology by using human-machine collaborative dogfighting as its initial challenge scenario. DARPA will hold a Proposers Day for interested researchers on May 17, 2019, in Arlington, Virginia.

“Being able to trust autonomy is critical as we move toward a future of warfare involving manned platforms fighting alongside unmanned systems,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Dan Javorsek (Ph.D.), ACE program manager in DARPA's Strategic Technology Office (STO). “We envision a future in which AI handles the split-second maneuvering during within-visual-range dogfights, keeping pilots safer and more effective as they orchestrate large numbers of unmanned systems into a web of overwhelming combat effects.”

ACE is one of several STO programs designed to enable DARPA's “mosaic warfare” vision. Mosaic warfare shifts warfighting concepts away from a primary emphasis on highly capable manned systems — with their high costs and lengthy development timelines — to a mix of manned and less-expensive unmanned systems that can be rapidly developed, fielded, and upgraded with the latest technology to address changing threats. Linking together manned aircraft with significantly cheaper unmanned systems creates a “mosaic” where the individual “pieces” can easily be recomposed to create different effects or quickly replaced if destroyed, resulting in a more resilient warfighting capability.

The ACE program will train AI in the rules of aerial dogfighting similar to how new fighter pilots are taught, starting with basic fighter maneuvers in simple, one-on-one scenarios. While highly nonlinear in behavior, dogfights have a clearly defined objective, measureable outcome, and the inherent physical limitations of aircraft dynamics, making them a good test case for advanced tactical automation. Like human pilot combat training, the AI performance expansion will be closely monitored by fighter instructor pilots in the autonomous aircraft, which will help co-evolve tactics with the technology. These subject matter experts will play a key role throughout the program.

“Only after human pilots are confident that the AI algorithms are trustworthy in handling bounded, transparent and predictable behaviors will the aerial engagement scenarios increase in difficulty and realism,” Javorsek said. “Following virtual testing, we plan to demonstrate the dogfighting algorithms on sub-scale aircraft leading ultimately to live, full-scale manned-unmanned team dogfighting with operationally representative aircraft.”

DARPA seeks a broad spectrum of potential proposers for each area of study, including small companies and academics with little previous experience with the Defense Department. To that end, before Phase 1 of the program begins, DARPA will sponsor a stand-alone, limited-scope effort focused on the first technical area: automating individual tactical behavior for one-on-one dogfights. Called the “AlphaDogfight Trials,” this initial solicitation will be issued by AFWERX, an Air Force innovation catalyst with the mission of finding novel solutions to Air Force challenges at startup speed. The AFWERX trials will pit AI dogfighting algorithms against each other in a tournament-style competition.

“Through the AFWERX trials, we intend to tap the top algorithm developers in the air combat simulation and gaming communities,” Javorsek said. “We want them to help lay the foundational AI elements for dogfights, on which we can build as the program progresses.”

AFWERX will announce the trials in the near future on its website: https://www.afwerx.af.mil/.

For ACE Proposers Day registration details, please visit: https://go.usa.gov/xmnMn

https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-05-08

Sur le même sujet

  • Paris Air Forum : comment l’État assure la sauvegarde de la BITD

    23 juin 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Terrestre, C4ISR

    Paris Air Forum : comment l’État assure la sauvegarde de la BITD

    La sauvegarde de la BITD française a été abordée lors du Paris Air Forum. Récemment, les ventes des sociétés Photonis et Fichou ont fait l'objet d'un veto de la part de l'État français de projets de rachat respectivement par un groupe américain et par un groupe indien, rappelle La Tribune. La direction générale de l'armement (DGA) et la direction générale des entreprises (DGE) ont ensuite orienté leur vente vers des acheteurs « connus favorablement » par les services de l'Etat, soit respectivement le fonds d'investissement HLD, pour Photonis, et le groupe HEF, pour Fichou. La DGA joue un rôle clé parmi les outils dont la France s'est dotée pour contrôler les investissements étrangers et protéger les 4 000 entreprises de sa base industrielle et technologique de défense (BITD) : « Nous avons traité 138 dossiers d'investissements financiers étrangers » en 2020, souligne François Mestre, chef du service des affaires industrielles et de l'intelligence économique à la DGA. Par ailleurs, « nous avons formé cent cadres de la DGA à conduire des audits dans les sociétés. Ils ont ausculté 1 200 entreprises de la BITD pour avoir une vision de leur état ». Une démarche qui a été suivie de 130 procédures de remédiation, détaille-t-il. Le Service de l'information stratégique et de la sécurité économique au ministère de l'Économie (SISSE) est par ailleurs doté d'un dispositif de protection économique. La Tribune du 23 juin

  • L'US Air Force veut qu'un de ses pilotes affronte un avion piloté par une intelligence artificielle

    12 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    L'US Air Force veut qu'un de ses pilotes affronte un avion piloté par une intelligence artificielle

    Des chercheurs américains spécialisés dans l'Intelligence Artificielle projettent de créer un avion de combat autonome capable d'abattre un avion de chasse piloté par un humain. L'US Air Force devrait organiser un tel combat en juillet 2021, selon Air Force Magazine. L'Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) travaille depuis 2018 sur un système automatisé basé sur des techniques d'Intelligence Artificielle qui puisse prendre le dessus sur un avion de chasse piloté par un humain lors d'un combat air-air. La technologie du projet, baptisé «Bigmoon shot», s'appuie sur le deep machine learning. Air Force Magazine et L'Usine Nouvelle du 12 juin

  • General Dynamics pitches updated ‘Foxhound’ for British Army needs

    14 septembre 2023 | International, Terrestre

    General Dynamics pitches updated ‘Foxhound’ for British Army needs

    The service fielded hundreds of the vehicles to protect soldiers from mines and improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Toutes les nouvelles