Two startups join forces to make self-flying tankers, dogfighting AI, and more
Merlin Labs, which aims to test an AI-powered KC-135 within a year, is to buy F-16 AI driver EpiSci.
AUDREY DECKER | JUNE 21, 2024 01:11 PM ET
AIR FORCE AI & AUTONOMY DARPA INDUSTRY
One startup has Air Force contracts to rig a KC-135 tanker and C-130 airlifter for autonomous flight; the other created the AI pilot moving on in a DARPA dogfighting program. Now they’re joining forces.
Last week, the Boston-based Merlin Labs announced that it would acquire EpiSci, a California-based firm whose AI helped take Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on a high-profile spin in an F-16 last month.
EpiSci, and its sub, PhysicsAI, are the only teams that have been a part of all three chapters of DARPA’s effort to develop an AI fighter pilot: the 2020 AlphaDogfight Trials, the 2020-24 Air Combat Evolution Program, and—as of last week—the Artificial Intelligence Reinforcements program. Of the four companies whose AI agents operated on Kendall’s flight, EpiSci CEO Bo Ryu said, his company’s was the “most trusted and best performing.”
Merlin, which makes an AI pilot of its own, expects to test it aboard an Air Force KC-135 tanker within the next year, said CEO Matt George. This “core” pilot could allow the Air Force to reduce the number of pilots on its mobility aircraft from two to one, freeing up a bunch of aircrew—and enabling the Air Force to watch the AI operate during real-world missions with a human next to it, he said.
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2024/06/two-startups-join-forces-make-self-flying-tankers-dogfighting-ai-and-more/397534/?oref=d1-homepage-top-story
