XQ-58 Valkyrie Solves Air Combat 'Challenge Problem' While Under AI Control
Story by Joseph Trevithick •
One of the U.S. Air Force's stealthy XQ-58A Valkyrie drones recently completed a successful test flight demonstrating the ability to carry out aerial combat tasks autonomously using new artificial intelligence-driven software. The service says the test is part of a tiered approach to maturing autonomy "agents," which involves training algorithms millions of times first in simulations and other testing. This includes the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, or CCA, a key part of the larger Next Generation Air Dominance modernization initiative.
The milestone XQ-58A test took place at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida on July 25, according to a press release from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The flight lasted approximately three hours and was conducted within the bounds of the Eglin Test and Training Complex, a group of offshore training ranges in the Gulf of Mexico. AFRL's Autonomous Air Combat Operations (AACO) program team developed the algorithms used for the test.
“The mission proved out a multi-layer safety framework on an AI/ML [artificial intelligence/machine learning]-flown uncrewed aircraft and demonstrated an AI/ML agent solving a tactically relevant 'challenge problem' during airborne operations,” Air Force Col. Tucker Hamilton, the service's head of AI Test and Operations, said in a statement. “This sortie officially enables the ability to develop AI/ML agents that will execute modern air-to-air and air-to-surface skills."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/xq-58-valkyrie-solves-air-combat-challenge-problem-while-under-ai-control/ar-AA1eL2mB?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=eb89ca95cd624ba3816996102519389b&ei=27
