Emma Roth reports for The Verge:
After carrying out dogfighting simulations using the AI pilot, DARPA put its work to the test by installing the AI system inside its experimental X–62A aircraft. That allowed it to get the AI-controlled craft into the air at the Edwards Air Force Base in California, where it says it carried out its first successful dogfight test against a human in September 2023.
Human pilots were on board the X–62A with controls to disable the AI system, but DARPA says the pilots didn’t need to use the safety switch “at any point.” The X–62A went against an F–16 controlled solely by a human pilot, where both aircraft demonstrated “high-aspect nose-to-nose engagements” and got as close as 2,000 feet at 1,200 miles per hour. DARPA doesn’t say which aircraft won the dogfight, however.
What could possibly go wrong?
