{"id":83321,"date":"2025-07-22T13:51:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T13:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/83321\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T13:51:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T13:51:12","slug":"air-force-experiments-with-using-ai-to-seek-combat-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/83321\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force experiments with using AI to seek combat targets"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Air Force recently conducted an exercise in which AI was used to recommend targets in a high-pressure combat scenario. <\/p>\n

Called \u201cExperiment 3,\u201d the four-day exercise took place last month and was described in a service release as the debut of \u201ca novel planning and execution methodology, one never before executed\u201d by the Air Force. <\/p>\n

The 805th Combat Training Squadron, also known as the Shadow Operations Center \u2014 Nellis battle lab, saw participants use AI software to accelerate their decision-making and targeting processes over four days in a simulated battle space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just testing software, we\u2019re challenging assumptions, validating tactics and shaping the operational architecture the Air Force and our allies will rely on in future conflicts,\u201d Lt. Col. Shawn Finney, commander of the 805th, said in a release<\/a>. \u201cThis was a proving ground for the kill chain of tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unprecedented exercise was designed to speed up military decision-making and \u201creduce cognitive load\u201d on humans, per the release. The AI \u201coffered real-time recommendations to dynamic targeting teams.\u201d <\/p>\n

The AI software used during the exercise was developed under the Maven Smart System<\/a>. The software ingests data and produces analyses to \u201cprioritize targets,\u201d according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. <\/p>\n

RELATED\"\"<\/p>\n

During the exercise, AI was used to create a command-and-control pipeline, as well as perform \u201cintelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and targeting capability\u201d tasks, the release said. The goal was to create a \u201cresilient, data-driven, and automated kill chain across operational and tactical levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Observer teams noted the differences between the assessments made by human service members with experience, compared to recommendations generated by AI. It was found that human judgement \u201csuch as intuition, experience and situational awareness\u201d was \u201ccomplementary\u201d to what was machine-generated, according to the release. <\/p>\n

The more accurate information produced by humans was used to refine the AI algorithms. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe [battle lab] enables a \u2018drive-before-you-buy\u2019 approach, ensuring the tools we field are effective, intuitive and ready for the fight,\u201d Finney said in the release. \u201cThis experiment brought us one step closer to the future of command and control.\u201d<\/p>\n

About Zita\u00a0Ballinger\u00a0Fletcher<\/p>\n

Zita Ballinger Fletcher previously served as editor of Military History Quarterly and Vietnam magazines and as the historian of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. She holds an M.A. with distinction in military history. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. Air Force recently conducted an exercise in which AI was used to recommend targets in a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":83322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[56685,691,14183,738,19118,19100,19119,19102,56689,56686,56687,56688,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-83321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-805th-combat-training-squadron","9":"tag-ai","10":"tag-air-force","11":"tag-artificial-intelligence","12":"tag-circulated-air-force-times","13":"tag-circulated-defense-news","14":"tag-circulated-military-times","15":"tag-defense-news","16":"tag-maven-smart-system","17":"tag-nellis-battle-lab","18":"tag-shadow-operations-center","19":"tag-shawn-finney","20":"tag-technology","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114897215919555533","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}