Korean drone advancements set to reshape military aviation

The Korean statement on the K-AI Pilot program highlights the changes occurring in military aviation. Currently, its capabilities depend on the individual skills of relatively few, technically sophisticated platforms, such as single combat aircraft.

The Korean project aims to bring about changes in this area—the future of combat aviation is set to belong to complementary manned and unmanned systems, operating within a network of significantly cheaper, simpler machines, forming a sensor network.

Lim Seong-shin, responsible for KAI's research on artificial intelligence, stated that tests of the unmanned FA-50, examining its autonomous flight capabilities, will begin as early as 2026. The next phase of trials will involve formation flights and "semi-autonomous combat manoeuvres."

It is worth noting that Korea's schedule proposal somewhat resembles the work recently publicized by Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works aerospace innovation centre.

In November 2024, the Americans demonstrated a mixed manned-unmanned air defence mission using three aircraft—a manned L-39 Albatros and two unmanned L-29 Delfin aircraft. In this case, the L-39 was a command and control aircraft—one of its pilots used a touchscreen interface to assign targets to the two autonomous machines.

The unmanned Delfins cooperated after targets were designated to locate and destroy two enemy jets. The tests conducted represent another stage of work that previously proved the effectiveness of AI in controlling aircraft performing electronic warfare tasks.

Although similar experiments had been conducted earlier, the novel element in Skunk Works' efforts is including a human as a supervisor directing the actions of combat drones.

John Clark, Head of Skunk Works, emphasized that the experiment is fundamental to the future of military aviation, where "a family of manned and unmanned systems will collaborate to execute complex missions."

Sweden adopted a different concept for developing its virtual pilot. As part of the Beyond Project, Sweden is developing cooperation between Saab Aerospace and the German startup Helsing, which is responsible for research on aviation artificial intelligence.

Saab plans to gradually and evolutionarily implement AI-related solutions in Gripen E aircraft:

The work schedule assumes that the first capabilities of using AI Helsing in combat against airborne targets, conducted beyond visual range, will be tested.

The Americans are already conducting the tests that the Swedes are just planning. In the spring of 2024, DARPA revealed experimental combat between human-piloted F-16s and a special test version of the X-62A Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA).

In this case, it was not about the course of the combat but the fact that the virtual pilot had to cooperate with real ones. Specifically, two pilots sat in the cockpit of the X-62A, ready to intervene at any moment, but it was not necessary. During simulated battles, the AI maintained all required safety standards and did not violate any training rules.

The X-62A aircraft participating in the tests is also noteworthy in the context of AI development. It is a modified F-16 that first flew in 1992 as an NF-16D.

Since then, the aircraft has been continuously rebuilt, featuring, among other things, an engine nozzle allowing thrust vectoring, which increases the machine's manoeuvrability, as well as an additional fairing on the back of the fuselage, which, in addition to communication modules, contains, among other things, a system responsible for changes in aircraft stability. The landing gear was also reinforced to withstand countless landing trials with higher-than-recommended vertical speeds.

The aircraft received its current name—X-62A VISTA—in 2021, and it received a package of enhancements for tests under the Skyborg autonomous drone program.