War Air Force pulls off first AI flight in pilotless plane - The AI algorithms used in the flight were created by the lab and honed through millions of hours of simulations, a statement said.

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An XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned airplane takes off from the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona on Dec. 9, 2020. The Air Force recently announced that the Valkyrie drone was flown by artificial intelligence for the first time. (Joshua King/U.S. Air Force)

Air Force researchers are touting the achievement of the first unmanned flight using artificial intelligence algorithms after a successful three-hour sortie by an XQ-58A Valkyrie.

The flight took place at Florida’s Eglin Air Force Base on July 25, according to a statement issued Thursday by the Air Force Research Lab, which developed the unmanned plane in partnership with Kratos.

The AI algorithms used in the flight were created by the lab and honed through millions of hours of simulations, the statement said.

“AI will be a critical element to future warfighting and the speed at which we’re going to have to understand the operational picture and make decisions,” said Brig. Gen. Scott Cain, the research lab commander. “We need the coordinated efforts of our government, academia and industry partners to keep pace.”

The Valkyrie is a reusable unmanned plane that was designed to be far less costly to operate than traditional counterparts, whether they have a pilot or not, according to the Air Force Research Lab website.

The July 25 flight put a capstone on a multiyear partnership that began with the Skyborg Vanguard program, the statement said.

An onboard computer system can determine the best flight path and throttle settings to comply with commands, the Air Force said.

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This all has some surprising Macross vibes.
In Plus, the UN army is trying to develop a drone for pretty much the exact same purpose as the XQ58 is - a loyal wingman that can autonomously strike targets if necessary. But, over time that grew into an outright pilot replacement. And guess what happens when another AI manages to hijack it? Mayhem ensues.
Kawamori, your newer anime might've been trashy as hell, but the future of aviation shown is spot-on. Well, minus the transformation into mecha deal, anyway.
Inb4 le animu GAY - shut up, there is good shit in there.
 
Schwarzwald said:
Sure, get rid of one of the last cool jobs left and make our modern military even more gay.
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I wouldn't worry about it being more than a little niche thing. The Air Force is, after all, run entirely by pilots. There's a couple non-rated 3 stars, but, otherwise, every one that makes decisions or spends real money is a pilot.

Also, this old pilot buddy of mine said he knew the whole thing started going to shit in the '90s when the squadron parking lot stopped being filled up with mustangs and vettes and started being filled up with mini-vans. So being a pilot is already pretty gay.
 
Breadbassket said:
warfighting
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I remember when we made fun of the Medal of Honor franchise for using that word.

I also remember those low-budget indie shorts the Sci-Fi Channel used to run because they couldn't make reruns of Tom Baker's Doctor Who episodes fit into an American cable schedule with commercial breaks:


Sadly, only forward-thinking enough to make fun of drones, not full AI.
 
Your Starter for 10 said:
Also, this old pilot buddy of mine said he knew the whole thing started going to shit in the '90s when the squadron parking lot stopped being filled up with mustangs and vettes and started being filled up with mini-vans. So being a pilot is already pretty gay.
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With how expensive they are to train and the strict physical requirements involved, it's probably best that our pilots have a family to want to return to after every mission. Suicidal adrenaline junkies are cool and all but that shit probably gets old after the 3rd of 4th time you lose a jet and a pilot because somebody got too hopped up on amphetamines and wanted to showboat.
 
Your Starter for 10 said:
I wouldn't worry about it being more than a little niche thing. The Air Force is, after all, run entirely by pilots. There's a couple non-rated 3 stars, but, otherwise, every one that makes decisions or spends real money is a pilot.
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I dont know about the Air Force, but the Army can barely meet it's recruiting goals and the they are practically desperate at this point. I think its in the cards that after you have air superiority most flying tasks will be done by AI just so they dont have to hire bottom of the barrel retards, that could barely fit in the cockpit anyway, just to meet all needs.
 
Journoscum not doing their homework as usual.

Planes have had the ability to take off, fly a mission, drop ordinance if necessary and then land again, without pilot interference since the 70s (in design) and 80s (in practice). The reason we haven't is because no-one trusted the computers; just like when the industry shifted to fly-by-wire, accuracy of the landings knackered runways and because a human had to be last point of contact before a lethal decision was made.

Simply put, this is the military using fake words to increase their budget and rinse money from the tax payers and government.
 
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