The U.S. Air Force now has its own artificial intelligence (AI) co-pilot system, Artuμ, which debuted Dec. 15 on Lockheed Martin’s U-2 long-range, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and is responsible for controlling the aircraft’s radar and sensor systems, according to a Dec. 16 story on the weekly Defense News website titled “U-2 Reconnaissance Aircraft Flies with an AI Co-Pilot for the First Time. It is responsible for controlling the radar and sensor systems on board.
In the science fiction movie “Star Wars,” Luke Skywalker pilots an X-wing starfighter with an R2-D2 astromech droid to successfully destroy the Death Star and repair the damage to the aircraft with the help of the R2-D2 in time.
In reality, the U.S. Air Force now has its own artificial intelligence (AI) system, Artuμ.
According to the report, the U.S. Air Force issued a press release stating that Artuμ participated in reconnaissance training for U-2 reconnaissance aircraft from Beale Air Force Base, California, where it was tasked with locating enemy missile launchers in a simulated missile attack and was solely responsible for onboard sensor applications and tactical navigation once the U-2 took off. the U-2 human pilot focused on beware of enemy air threats and shared the AI co-pilot with radar.
As with human pilots, Artuμ has strengths and weaknesses,” said Will Roper, director of the U.S. Air Force acquisition branch. The next step we must take is to prepare humans and artificial intelligence for a new era of algorithmic warfare.”
The report also said Artuμ was built by U-2 Federal Laboratories. In an op-ed in Popular Mechanics Monthly, Roper said Artuμ is based on the μZero game algorithm. This algorithm has been used to beat human players in chess and Go. According to the U.S. Air Force, the U-2 lab specifically trained artificially intelligent co-pilots to maneuver the U-2’s sensor suite during “more than 500,000” computer simulation missions.
Roper wrote: “Without a human pilot at the controls, Artuμ can make a fully autonomous decision about whether to use the radar for missile search or self-protection.”
The U.S. Air Force said that while Artuμ was developed to reduce the workload of U-2 reconnaissance pilots, it could also be modified for use by other combat aircraft.
“We know that to fight and win future conflicts with our adversaries, we must have a decisive digital advantage,” the report quoted Gen. Charles Q. Brown, chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, as saying in a statement.
He said, “Artificial intelligence will play a key role in achieving that advantage …… We must accelerate change.”
In a test flight on Dec. 15, artificial intelligence helped co-pilot a U-2 “Lady Dragon” spy reconnaissance aircraft, the first time artificial intelligence has been used in such a way on a U.S. military aircraft, according to a Dec. 16 CNN report titled “Artificial Intelligence Co-Piloted U.S. Military Aircraft for the First Time.
Mastering artificial intelligence is increasingly seen as critical to the future of warfare. U.S. Air Force officials said the flight was an important milestone.
Earlier this month, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, “Artificial intelligence is a very, very powerful technology that is evolving very, very rapidly.”
The report quoted Milley as saying, “Maybe at most in the next 10 to 15 years, you’ll see widespread use of robots in the military of most countries in the world.”
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