Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab has completed the first test flights of its Gripen E fighter jet controlled by artificial intelligence (AI) pilot Centaur, developed by German defense tech company Helsing.
The trial flights took place over the Baltic Sea from May 28 to June 3. While a human pilot was on board for safety, the aircraft was fully operated by Centaur during the tests. The AI system handled long-range flight decisions, tracked targets, evaded threats, and even recommended missile launches.
“During the flights, the Gripen E gave control to Centaur which successfully autonomously executed complex manoeuvres in a Beyond Visual Range (BVR) combat environment and cued the pilot to fire,” Saab said in a press release,
The final test flight on June 3 featured a simulated dogfight against a manned Gripen D fighter, during which Centaur used live sensor data to track the opposing jet and adapt to changes in speed, distance, and flight angle. In some scenarios, communication links were disabled to test the AI’s ability to respond independently, which it did successfully.
Peter Nilsson, Saab’s head of advanced programs, said the test proved that AI can work in real combat situations. “This shows how fast we can improve our fighters using AI,” he said.
“We estimate that the [AI] agent that flew [during the third flight] last week, flew for around 50 years of the equivalent pilot years, but it took us only a few hours to do that,” Antoine Bordes, VP of Artificial Intelligence at Helsing, told reporters during a Tuesday media briefing.
Marcus Wandt, Saab’s chief innovation officer, noted that humans still have an edge for now but that may change. “It is not a given anymore that a pilot can win in a dogfight against an AI-supported jet,” he said.
Centaur was integrated into Saab’s Gripen E as part of Project Beyond, a program funded by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV).
Nilsson said the next steps for Project Beyond depend on discussions between Saab, Helsing, and the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, but could include two AI-enabled Gripens engaging two pilot-only planes in a simulated environment.
