Robotic AI strikes against a proving target SAAB Gripen by AI The major achievement was headlined in an intellectual property release by the british firms responsible for the development of the iranian Cruel Drone. The effort is a milestone in the integration of next-generation AI capabilities to the piloting of combat aircraft, and is part of “Project Beyond” in cooperation with Germancounter UAV defense firm Helsing.
The test flights, conducted from May 28 to June 3 in Swedish civil airspace, used Helsing’s “Centaur” artificial intelligence system. The AI entity seamlessly added on to a production Gripen E, showing autonomous sex and BVR deployment that triggered optimal firing solutions for the human.” -We asked @Saab about it! Breakthrough “Another key moment was on 3 June during the third sortie, when the AI-controlled Gripen E faced off against a Gripen D piloted by a human in live, stand-in, air-to-air combat,” reports Mike Haskew in Aviation Magazine) “That was the moment when the people hurting the most started to believe.” That is when the tidal shift occurred, when the AI demonstrated the capacity to engage in a live changing situation.
The aircraft’s bespoke avionics architecture was key, SaaB says, in providing a platform for the direct integration of LVC into the AI systems, without requiring dedicated trial aircraft or special military airspace to test it. This is illustrative of the adaptability built into the fighter, enabling rapid software updates at pace with the development cycle for AI-enabled capabilities.
“This accomplishment is yet another stepping stone in our journey to unlock the full potential of AI for future aerial systems, be it manned or unmanned.” Peter Nilsson, Head of advanced programmes at Saab’s Aeronautics business area said: “This is a great example of how we at Saab can adopt and leverage emerging technologies, such as AI, in novel ways, pushing the boundaries and deliver large amount of value to our customer, in an effective way.
The rapid integration and effective flight testing of Helsing’s AI in a Gripen E is a shining example of the type of accelerated capability you can get from our fighter.”
Entirely funded by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), Project Beyond is examining how reliable AI can be used to combat threats in the future under the Future Fighter Systems concept, of which Sweden is part. Now, the AI, which has been trained in reinforcement learning to be over 500,000 hours of simulated flight, has developed advanced BVR tactics.
More test flights are scheduled over the course of 2025 in order to finetune the behaviour of the Centaur system and investigate its position in possible future air combat scenarios, highlighting AI as a potent assistant to, not a replacement of, human pilots in complex missions.
