The latest technology integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) has passed the test following trials conducted by the U.S., U.K. and Australia's military alliance, AUKUS, officials said Friday.
The latest technology integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in "contested environments" has passed the test following trials conducted by the U.S., U.K. and Australia's military alliance, AUKUS, officials said Friday.
According to all three defense agencies in the alliance, the cutting-edge sensing technology was put to the test to determine whether UAVs could "complete their missions and preserve network connectivity" across multi-domain battlespaces, including land, maritime, air, and cyberspace.
AI-Integrated UAV Technology Tested Successfully by AUKUS Alliance
Under Pillar Two of the AUKUS agreement, all three nations are working to "harmonize" AI technologies for defense and security applications, largely in the face of growing Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific.
The AI-UAV integrated technology is intended to "minimize the time between sensing enemy targets, deciding how to respond, and responding to the threat," according to a release from the Department of Defense (DOD) Friday.
AI-Integrated UAV Technology Tested Successfully by AUKUS Alliance
"Once matured and integrated into national platforms, these new sensing systems will yield more reliable data that commanders can use to make optimal decisions and service members to act more quickly against kinetic threats — all while enabling seamless joint and combined military operations involving multiple services and nations," a statement by the DOD said.
One example of a system tested in the Resilient and Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Technology (RAAIT) trials was the use of a map-based application known as a Tactical Assault Kit (TAK). The software helped a British UAV detect the location of adversarial forces by using "on-the-fly adjustments" that were based on data it collected in coordination with a separate UAV that provided detailed imagery.
AI-Integrated UAV Technology Tested Successfully by AUKUS Alliance
The coordinated information was then sent to an "AI officer" in the Tactical Operations Center (TOC), who provided human oversight before an Australian XT-8 UAV could be triggered for strike use.
"It used to be that each nation used its own datasets to develop separate models and deploy those models on their own platforms," said Kimberly Sablon, principal director of Trusted AI and Autonomy (AIA) in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. "Under RAAIT, we’ve matured the AI pipeline, focusing on interchangeability and interoperability, which allows for any combinations of datasets, models, algorithms, and platforms to be used across all three nations."
The AUKUS alliance handed control of a drone swarm to an AI program to test its observational capabilities. (UK Ministry of Defense handout)
The "lessons learned" from the joint trials will be used to create an "AIA ecosystem" that can be employed for operational use by all three nations.
"Our goal is to get to the point where we have a pipeline that is interchangeable and interoperable but robust," Sablon said. "Being able to collect data, train our AI systems, conduct testing and evaluation, and even adapt to unanticipated threats in less than 10 hours at the edge is a huge milestone for our partnership."
The successful integration of AI into UAVs has the potential to revolutionize warfare by enhancing situational awareness, decision-making, and response times. It also raises ethical concerns about the use of lethal autonomous weapons and the potential for AI systems to be biased or manipulated.
As AI technology continues to advance, it is increasingly important for militaries to strike a balance between harnessing its benefits and mitigating its potential riscos. The AUKUS alliance is taking a proactive approach by testing and evaluating AI-UAV systems in simulated "contested environments" before deploying them in real-world combat scenarios.
