AUKUS nations test AI-enabled UAV that destroys ground targets

The AUKUS nations of Australia, the US and the UK have developed an AI-enabled uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) and successfully tested it in real time.

The vehicle, which had the fundamental goal of being able to disable or destroy ground targets, let a human operator achieve that goal through a fusion of autonomous flight and data-powered AI sensing.

The achievement is significant as it marks the first time the two technologies, autonomy and AI, have been used collaboratively in a real-time military setting.

The combination of AI and autonomous systems was used to reduce the time the vehicle took to identify enemy targets, and to ensure it could disable or destroy those targets with a reduced risk to human life. The testing brought together several drones from each of the three nations, working collaboratively in the real-time test.

Commodore Rachel Singleton, head of the Defence Artificial Intelligence Centre (DAIC) and UK lead for the AUKUS AI and autonomy working group, explained the value of the tripartite relationship in the testing and future operation of the UAV.

“The AUKUS partnership is key to ensuring that the systems designed by each nation are interoperable into the future,” Singleton said. “Service personnel from one nation will be supported by capabilities that have been developed across all three nations.”

During the trial, data from each nation’s systems was exchanged seamlessly, encouraging Singleton’s optimism on the future interoperability of the UAV across national mission parameters.

The trial was part of this year’s US-hosted multinational Project Convergence experimentation exercise. The first such AUKUS trial took place in April 2023 and the successful real-time collaboration is a marker of significant progress since that inaugural attempt. 

Once the technology has been more extensively tested and proven, it is expected to be incorporated onto all three national platforms, giving the military organisations of the AUKUS nations greater protection from the likes of electronic warfare, ground-based laser weaponry and GPS attacks.

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