The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s AlphaDogfight Trials final event, a virtual competition designed to demonstrate advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms capable of performing a simulated dogfight, has been rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Originally scheduled for April, the third and final trial is now planned for August 17-20, 2020, at AFWERX, the Air Force’s innovation hub, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Eight teams were selected last year to compete in the simulated within-visual-range air combat maneuvering. DARPA designed the series of trials to energize and expand a base of AI developers for its Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program. ACE seeks to automate air-to-air combat and build human trust in AI as a step toward improved human-machine teaming.
“AlphaDogfight Trials performers have used this down time constructively to refine their algorithms and to prepare for the final event later this summer,” said Lt. Col. Dan “Animal” Javorsek, AlphaDogfight Trials and ACE program manager in DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office. “Trial 3 will be the first time the teams compete their AIs against each other publicly. The winning AI will then fly a simulated dogfight against an experienced fighter pilot to test the AI’s mettle and demonstrate how far these algorithms have come in only a few months. It typically takes nearly a decade for human pilots to build the experience necessary to perform at this level.”
The plan is for an F-16 pilot from the Air Force Weapons School at nearby Nellis AFB to fly in an F-16 simulator against the Top AI in a mock 1-v-1 battle. Win or lose, the competition will have advanced AI-driven tactics in combat maneuvering and provided a path to further development.
The first trial took place Nov. 19-21, 2019 at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) in Laurel, Maryland. The video below provides a recap of Trial 1, where algorithms were still in early development, and provides an overview of AlphaDogfight Trials.
