KAI Validates Autonomous Flight with US Unmanned Combat Aircraft

Demonstration Plan for Multipurpose Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (AAP)
in Partnership with Shield AI

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is partnering with the U.S. combat unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturer Shield AI to verify artificial intelligence (AI) autonomous flight.

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On the 5th, KAI announced that it signed a contract to use Shield AI's AI-based autonomous flight software, "HiveMind Enterprise" (HME). This contract was signed as a tripartite agreement with Quantum Aero, a defense AI startup that is the exclusive domestic supplier of Shield AI.

Shield AI's HME is software designed to build, evaluate, and verify autonomy for unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) mission execution. Since 2018, it has been applied to platforms such as the F-16 (X-62 VISTA) and used to verify AI-based autonomous flight capabilities.

KAI plans to use HME to verify the free-flight technology of its independently developed AI pilot and to conduct integrated demonstration tests on a scaled-down multipurpose unmanned aerial vehicle (AAP). To this end, KAI engineers will visit Shield AI's headquarters in San Diego, USA, next month to receive related training and discuss software utilization strategies.

This year, KAI plans to equip the scaled-down AAP with the AI pilot to demonstrate basic navigation, obstacle avoidance flight, and target recognition, and to install the AI pilot on the actual AAP scheduled for delivery within the year.

Choi Nak-seon, head of KAI's AI and Avionics Research Center, said, "We will strive to quickly verify the AI pilot technology developed in-house using HME and other tools and elevate it to a world-class level."