BELFAST — In partnership with defense startup Helsing, Swedish manufacturer Saab has successfully demonstrated the ability of an AI tool to cue a Gripen E fighter jet pilot to fire missiles in a combat scenario.
Over the course of three Project Beyond flight tests between May and June, the Gripen E also handed off control of the combat jet to Helsing’s Centaur AI tool, enabling it to autonomously complete a number of manuevers in a Beyond Visual Range (BVR) environment, according to a Saab company statement.
The manufacturer noted that in the third Project Beyond flight, Centaur faced off “against a real Gripen D aircraft in a series of dynamic BVR scenarios with real-time data integration utilizing sensor data to track the target aircraft.” The test team evaluated the AI agent’s “adaptability” by changing variables ranging from starting distances, speeds or even disabling C2 data.
“We estimate that the [AI] agent that flew [during the third flight] last week, flew for around 50 years of the equivalent pilot years, but it took us only a few hours to do that,” Antoine Bordes, VP of Artificial Intelligence at Helsing, told reporters during a Tuesday media briefing.
The pre-flight testing work activity started six months ago, he noted, and involved training and testing Centaur, initially through Gripen simulation data. “The fact that we can change and update the [AI] model is one of the key successes” for Project Beyond, he added.
The program, developed to “explore how trustworthy AI can be used against future threats,” is fully funded by the Swedish Defence Material Administration and also sits within the concept phase of Sweden’s future fighter program. The future fighter line of effort has a long term ambition of deciding on procurement of a next generation platform by 2031. (Saab holds a 5 percent stake in Helsing after investing €75 million, or $85.7 million, in the company as part of a strategic agreement forged in 2023.)
Next steps for Project Beyond are dependent on discussions between Saab, Helsing and the Swedish Defence Material Administration, but could include two AI-enabled Gripens battling two pilot-only planes in a simulated environment, according to Peter Nilsson, Saab Aeronautics’ head of advanced programmes.
Marcus Wandt, Chief Innovation Officer at Saab said that “it is not a given” any longer, that a pilot will continue to be able to win in a dogfight against an AI supported fighter jet. “There are still pilots out there that will have a chance, but that will change fast,” he explained.
Saab’s breakthrough follows on from a US Air Force demonstration held last year at Edwards Air Force Base in California where an AI controlled F-16, dubbed X-62A Vista, demonstrated its control of the jet with then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall aboard.
Citing the evolution of AI in combat, Kendall said after his flight, “It’s a security risk not to have it. At this point, we have to have it.”
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