DARPA Partners With Cubic Defense in Air Combat Evolution Program
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected Cubic Defense, a leading provider of technology solutions including advanced air combat training, as a partner in its Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program.
The DARPA ACE program aims to garner trust in combat autonomy by proving that artificial intelligence (AI)-controlled aircraft can successfully engage in dogfighting and do so in a safe and reliable way through human-machine collaboration. ACE experiments with implementing AI in realistic aerial combat scenarios and simultaneously measures and predicts human trust in combat autonomy performance.
In this program, higher-level cognitive functions such as engagement strategy determination, target selection and prioritization, and weapon determination may still be performed by a human, but the autonomous system takes over lower-level functions such as aircraft maneuver and engagement tactics. The goal is to make pilots feel more comfortable with trusting AI to conduct complex combat behaviors so that they can focus on broader and more global air command missions while the unmanned systems engage in individual tactics.
According to DARPA, pilots who control multiple autonomous unmanned platforms from a manned aircraft can increase lethality. The hope is that AI-powered autonomous fighter jets will strengthen and eventually engage in high-speed, high-risk conflicts.
In 2023, ACE successfully tested the X-62A, or variable in-flight simulator test aircraft (VISTA), which is an AI-controlled F-16 used to test the AI algorithm capability against human-operated F-16s. The X-62A became the first autonomous fighter jet to engage in visual-range combat scenarios against a manned aircraft.
“The potential for autonomous air-to-air combat has been imaginable for decades, but the reality has remained a distant dream up until now,” said Frank Kendall, secretary of the U.S. Air Force.
The X-62A engine used high-fidelity time space position information from Cubic Defense’s secure live virtual and constructive advanced training environment (SLATE) system.
According to Paul Averna, vice president and general manager of advanced training solutions for Cubic Defense, SLATE offers the realistic pacing of multidomain and high-threat environments to the live cockpits and operator consoles through computer-generated forces.
Our joint and coalition operators deserve a fully vetted system that ensures combat readiness today and in the future with AI-enabled platforms.
The goal of SLATE is to challenge warfighters to train as they would fight in complex kill webs. Cubic Defense’s training system first showcased its capabilities at Nellis Air Force Base during the SLATE-advanced technology demonstration in 2018 and has improved since.
“Tomorrow’s fight will be different; our joint and coalition operators deserve a fully vetted system that ensures combat readiness today and in the future with AI-enabled platforms,” Averna said.
Cubic Defense joins Calspan Corporation, EpiSci, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works and Shield AI as an industry partner with ACE. The program is a collaboration between academia, government and private industry. ACE's government partners include the Air Force Test Center, Air Force Research Laboratory, DARPA and the Air Force Test Pilot School. Academic partners include Johns Hopkins University and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
All X-62A tests and demonstrations of autonomous combat maneuvers have taken place at the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and will continue throughout 2024.
