The U.S. Air Force will pit a drone against a fighter jet in an aerial combat demonstration next year. It’s just one example of how the service is gunning to change the character of warfare, top officials say.
Last week, Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, head of the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, revealed that the Air Force Research Lab is working on an “autonomous system to go up against a human, manned system in some sort of air-to-air” test in July 2021. Speaking during a Mitchell Institute event, he said the test will be an indication of how the service’s outlook is growing when it comes to the next dynamic battlefront.
