Swedish company Saab and German defense startup Helsing have conducted combat trials of a Gripen E fighter jet piloted by artificial intelligence, pitted against a real-life human pilot, The War Zone reports. 

The first of these test flights took place on 28 May. By the third combat sortie on 3 June, the AI agent, dubbed Centaur, was ready to engage in a beyond-visual-range (BVR) air battle against a crewed Gripen D fighter.

During the process, the AI agent rapidly accumulated experience and improved its decision-making skills in BVR combat, a battlefield Saab describes as “like playing chess in a supersonic with advanced missiles.”

Saab has confirmed that the Centaur AI system could potentially be expanded to close-range dogfights within visual range (WVR) as well. However, the initial focus remains on BVR engagements, which the company describes as the most critical aspect of air combat, a point reinforced by the ongoing air war in Ukraine.

In a series of dynamic BVR scenarios, the Gripen E’s sensors received target data, and the Centaur AI autonomously executed complex maneuvers on behalf of the test pilot. The culmination of these scenarios saw the AI agent providing the pilot with firing cues for simulated air-to-air weapon launches.

Meanwhile, Marcus Wandt, Saab’s Chief Innovation Officer and a test pilot himself, remarked that the test flights “so far point to the fact that ‘it is not a given’ that a pilot will be able to win in aerial combat against an AI-supported opponent.”

“This is an important achievement for Saab, demonstrating our qualitative edge in sophisticated technologies by making AI deliver in the air,” said Peter Nilsson, head of Advanced Programs within Saab’s Aeronautics business area.

Insights gained from this program will feed into Sweden’s future fighter program, which aims to select one or more next-generation air combat platforms by 2031.