Air Force Expands AI Training With Simulated Battle Plans
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The Air Force is looking to develop a gaming environment to help expedite decision-making in battle scenarios.
The Air Force aims to further expand its artificial intelligence training operations with fresh research that helps streamline battle decisions by simulating various scenarios.
Announced in a presolicitation on Monday, the Air Force Research Laboratory wants to overhaul its air operations and planning procedures through “combining artificial intelligence (AI)-driven planning with interactive gaming to significantly reduce the Air Tasking Order planning cycle,” a planning process that regulates how joint air decisions and operations are made.
Named Fight Tonight, the program asks potential vendors to submit relevant research in the form of white papers. Following updates with the program’s technical requirements and deadlines, vendors will then be invited to submit prototypes of technical solutions.
Total funding for this research is estimated at about $99 million, with individual grant awards not to exceed four and a half years. Funding for individual awards is anticipated to fall between $3 million and $40 million.
The notice also specifically mentions that the AI technology featured in the research will be “human-guided” and take place in an interactive gaming environment to simulate combat plans and explore battlespace strategies.
By demonstrating various courses of action Air Force officials can employ in different situations, the AI platform will help execute operational decisions quickly, per the solicitation summary.
The deadline for all vendors to submit their proposals is Jan. 10. Subsequent proposals will be due by Feb. 25 on a requested basis.
Fight Tonight is the latest iteration of AI innovation within the Air Force. The military branch has also been refining its AI battle strategy operations with Aptima, a program to help train Air Force trainees by using automated enemy pilots.
Despite the strides the branch has seemingly made in machine learning technology acquisitions, leaders have previously underscored the need to strengthen Air Force AI training algorithms from cyber threats.
Ample cybersecurity on the AI front has been a broader cause for concern among officials at the Department of Defense, who have noted the rise in malicious attempts to infiltrate and potentially corrupt Defense’s AI systems.