How was a Pilotless F-16 Flight Realized with the Support of Artificial Intelligence?

Due to the new technologies achieved in both software and hardware in the field of today's military technologies, developed countries now aim to emphasize and use the more powerful features of machines that are almost limitless, instead of human beings who have limits. 

In the old military technologies, the limit of 4-5 mach speed, which is the limit that man and material can withstand, and the 9 G force limit that man can withstand with various additional supports (such as g-suits) were seen as an upper limit. 

Today, especially the newly developed Sarmat 2 (Satan 2) and Zircon missiles developed by Russia have reached speeds 8-9 times faster than sound.

It is no longer possible for a human to reach the speed and capabilities of these systems without any support and assistance. 

In an environment where hundreds of aircraft, missiles, UAVs and command and control centers are simultaneously present as friend or foe, and in an area where air-to-air missiles are flying, it does not seem possible for a human pilot to control and intervene in all these events alone. 

Wars are no longer fought with dozens of airplanes attacking or bombarding an area, as in the first and second world wars. 

In the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, the Neptune missiles fired by Ukraine from a few hundred kilometers away caused the Moscow, the most trusted flagship of the Russians, to sink to the bottom of the Black Sea along with its ammunition. 

Nothing is impossible anymore. 

Again, Ukrainian President Zelenski made a statement on September 12, 2022, listing Russia's losses during the 200-day war. "In 200 days, our army destroyed more than 2,000 enemy tanks, 4,500 armored combat vehicles, more than 1,000 enemy artillery systems, 250 aircraft and 200 helicopters, nearly 1,000 drones, 15 ships and boats, and thousands of other enemy equipment," Zelenski said in his statement. 

Although these numbers have not been accepted or verified by the Russians, the loss of 250 airplanes, 200 helicopters and 1,000 unmanned aerial vehicles in aviation alone is indeed a terrible loss. 

It is clear from this statement or news report that for every loss of an airplane or helicopter, two drones were also shot down. 

Even this statement is a clear indication that the war is now mostly being managed by drones. 

Although there are both pilots and weapon system operators on board for flight and weapon systems, these two need to engage multiple targets that change instantly, prioritize targets among them, and coordinate with the flight crews of other friendly aircraft using the same combat environment. They are expected to manage a myriad of unknowns at a time, and in the chaos, both find and destroy the enemy, and return safely to the next similar mission.

Therefore, unlike UAVs, it is desirable for the crew operating manned platforms to survive even if their aircraft is shot down, so that they can continue to fight another aircraft. In other words, in manned platforms, the survival of the pilot is as essential as the survival of the aircraft. 

However, the situation is very different for UAVs, and the main reason for the introduction of UAVs as a new element in the dynamics of warfare is the expectation that they will eliminate the problem of 'pilot loss'. 

Indeed, the losses of airplanes and helicopters in Zelenski's statements also meant the loss of the pilots and crew on board. However, in the case of UAV losses, this is not the case, as there is no human element inside the UAV. 

In order to prevent human casualties, which have occurred or are very likely to occur, the Air Forces of each country have started to develop different solutions or strategies. 

This has also been the case for our country. In addition to TAI Anka, Bayraktar UAV, Vestel Karayel and many other UAV systems, these systems have been improved and made more effective by producing ammunition and bombs for these systems. 

For the time being, while UAVs continue to carry out bomb-dropping missions in standard, low-threat environments, and are used in many areas such as electronic warfare and intelligence support, efforts to develop unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that will serve in the role of truly combat UAVs continue in another lane. In this context, the US has attracted attention with its F-16 flying with artificial intelligence. 

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) focused on the idea of F-16 flying with artificial intelligence without a pilot instead of F-16 flying with a pilot, and tried to test the superiority of these aircraft over each other during operations by conducting mutual DogFight (Dogfight) trials with simulation programs of manned and unmanned F-16 aircraft. 

In 2019, DARPA said that no artificial intelligence has been able to defeat its pilots in a dogfight. However, a program developed by Heron Systems in Maryland managed to defeat the American jet pilot. 

Artificial intelligence defeats F-16 pilot in dogfight simulation for the first time.

Artificial intelligence developed by Heron Systems paired up with an F16 pilot codenamed Banger in the "AlphaDogfight Trials" simulation. 

Dan Javorsek of DARPA's Office of Strategic Technologies stated that the AI tries out alternative tactics based on the pilots' combat maneuvers. 

The artificial intelligence program called Heron faced off against F-16 pilot Banger, and Heron emerged victorious with a score of 5-0. He also stated that it was seen that Banger resorted to extraordinary moves in the last round against artificial intelligence, but was not successful. 

With its statements, DARPA has also made it clear that it aims to automate air-to-air warfare through artificial intelligence programs. 

With the results of the war between Ukraine and Russia, it is possible to say that the research and development efforts made by DARPA have accelerated in such a way that there will be a war of machines in the future, and even our country has achieved significant success in this regard. 

Considering that the loss of human beings, especially trained pilots, will be much higher in possible wars, it is more clearly seen that technological developments will lead to the rise of systems that think and behave like humans instead of humans, but can do more than human abilities and always make fewer mistakes under fire. 

This subject includes areas such as driverless cars, unmanned spacecraft for long space journeys, the development of newer machines that will make today's human life easier and less dangerous, and newer topics and research.

References

https://tr.euronews.com/2020/09/01/yapay-zeka-it-dalas-simulasyonunda-f16-pilotunu-ilk-kez-maglup-etti

https://www.cnnturk.com/amp/dunya/zelenski-savastaki-rus-kayiplarini-acikladi