The US Air Force has used artificial intelligence to accelerate its targeting decisions in recent exercises.
The goal was to test how AI could improve the accuracy and timeliness of operator responses, and the Air Force would have a more automated kill chain in potential battles in the future.
The four-day experimental three exercises held last month were stress tests of future war techniques and tactics in realistic combat scenarios.
“By replicating this new methodology, tactical level participants allowed combat-level participants to explore how tools and workflows can shape kill chain execution for the future of combat,” said Lt. Col. Weslie Schultz, operations director at Nellis, 805th's Combat Training Squadron/Shadow Operations Center.
A kill chain is a military decision process that guides the way forces detect threats, bringing outcomes to zero, act and assessing. The US military is actively seeking to evolve its kill chains through automation, AI, data-driven command and control decisions, and interconnected sensors, surveillance and reconnaissance tools.
During training, operators used AI software to accelerate their decision-making and targeting processes. It is designed to speed up these processes and “reduce cognitive load” for human operators, the service states in its release.
The Air Force and other military programs are working on unmanned aircraft than pilot aircraft or can fly on their own. US Air Force Photograph by Richard Gonzalez
With the rise in AI, reducing the cognitive load or mental effort of combat personnel has become a priority, especially in recent years. US military leaders and officials believe that AI can help assess large amounts of battlefield data to make faster and clearer decisions.
The AI used was developed under the larger US military AI initiative, the Maven Smart System. During testing, ratings performed by operators only were compared to those produced with AI recommendations.
The test was intended to investigate the value of human machine teams. “The difference between machine-generated recommendations and operator decisions highlighted the complementary strength of human judgment, including intuition, experience and situational awareness in time-sensitive targeting,” the service said.
We used feedback from exercises and observations of how AI works to improve our systems and processes. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said earlier this year that future wars will be “highly automated, very autonomous, long-range action, action with accuracy” and that space will be “a critical theater,” adding that “the response times are very short to have endurable effects.”
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“We're going to be in the world,” he said. “Therefore, decisions are not made at human speed, they are made at mechanical speed.”
And last year he argued that mastering artificial intelligence solutions could be key to winning the next major war.
AI is implemented throughout the military, changing the way weapon systems and technology operates. US Army 25th Infantry Division/Staff Sergeant. Brenden Delgado
The US military branch is testing how AI can be used to speed up decision making. The Air Force is considering pairing this technology with free systems and drones, like collaborative fighter jets. This service allowed AI algorithms to fly fighter jets. Also, a lot of time and research is being invested in how artificial intelligence can expand pilot capabilities.
AI as a tool can also complete back-end work in the military, including better search capabilities to analyze Department of Defense doctrines, better search capabilities to understand specific locations, commands, or positions, paperwork, and status reports.
The rise of AI in the military has been plagued with skepticism and ethical concerns from experts and officials, particularly regarding implementation in combat scenarios. The Pentagon argues that AI policies keep people in the loop for decision-making, but some observers argue that this is not possible in a fast, data-driven future war.
Others note that the technology could develop at a faster pace than Washington and the pentagon could regulate it. In recent Air Force exams, humans were kept in loops. AI worked in the role of support rather than independently hunting targets with autonomy.
