New AI Fighter Jets Are Beating The Brakes Off of Human-Operated Jets Which Could Be A Huge Problem

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of U.S. airpower. But the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence, not a human pilot. And riding in the front seat was Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.

AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning for an AI-enabled fleet of more than 1,000 unmanned warplanes, the first of them operating by 2028.

The AI-controlled F-16, called Vista, flew Kendall in lightning-fast maneuvers at more than 550 miles an hour that put pressure on his body at five times the force of gravity. It went nearly nose to nose with a second human-piloted F-16 as both aircraft raced within 1,000 feet of each other, twisting and looping to try force their opponent into vulnerable positions.

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If you get a second, watch that video. It's fucking insane the things that we can do without a pilot in the plane. It started with drones. We all kinda looked at it like it would just be for surveillance which made recon so much easier. You could fly them shits high up in the atmosphere and go largely unnoticed while you were taking in high-res photos of areas that you normally couldn't see. We've used those images for all kinds of things from finding high-value targets to looking for weapon caches to looking for hot spots where IEDs are typically emplaced. There is no doubt in my mind that those things changed the way we wage modern war. 

In most modern wars, we haven't seen dog fights. Sure, there were stories of people like The Ghost of Kyiv who was a fighter pilot that was credited with all kinds of dogfight kills when Russia invaded Ukraine. 

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While it might not be real, it was a really fucking cool story. 

Dogfights used to be common during the early to mid-1900s, particularly during those pesky World Wars. But with the advancement of technology, including long-range missiles and sophisticated radar systems, dogfights as we know em have become less frequent and less frequent.

The last significant instances of traditional dogfights that I know of occurred during the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and the Falklands War (1982). In these wars, aircraft engaged in close-range aerial combat using guns and short-range air-to-air missiles. 

There were a few in Desert Storm as well. 

Lately though, the advancements in air-to-air missiles, stealth aircraft, and long-range engagement capabilities have shifted the focus of air combat away from close-range dogfights. Instead, modern aerial warfare often involves beyond-visual-range engagements, where aircraft can launch missiles from distances beyond what the human eye can see and now it will be beyond what a human can navigate. 

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Just from a normal person's perspective, a jet without a pilot will likely play chicken better. There's nobody in that unmanned aircraft that gives a fuck about dying. There's nobody in that aircraft who will make a mistake based on nerves. There is nobody in that aircraft who will pass out when the Gs are higher than what the body can take. The plane can do much more without the limitations of a human pilot. 

That's scary because F-16s will fuck you up with a person inside. Now though? Good fucking luck. 

Vista flew its first AI-controlled dogfight in September 2023, and there have only been about two dozen similar flights since. But the programs are learning so quickly from each engagement that some AI versions getting tested on Vista are already beating human pilots in air-to-air combat.

The pilots at this base are aware that in some respects, they may be training their replacements or shaping a future construct where fewer of them are needed.

But they also say they would not want to be up in the sky against an adversary that has AI-controlled aircraft if the U.S. does not also have its own fleet.

“We have to keep running. And we have to run fast,” Kendall said.

They've been doing it six months! Six fucking months and they are already beating some of the most skilled fighter pilots we have. 

Pilots and the enemy are cooked. Just cooked.