Modern-Aviation

Drone fighter planes capable of thinking for themselves in mid-air dog fights against enemy human pilots are being developed by US military researchers.
Autonomous aircraft equipped with artificial intelligence and pre-programmed with vast hours of training time are being readied to test against real-life Top Guns in fighter jets as early as next year, according to a US general's email exchange with a senior military scientist.

If future trials are successful, the technology could usher in a new era of warfare with robot planes that adapt to situations in mid-air without the need for a person on the ground remotely-controlling their moves.

During a video interview with the Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies, Lieutenant General Jack Shanahan, director of the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Centre, described the unmanned fighter drone programme as a “bold idea”.