Preface: Is the Age of Top Gun Over?

Introduction: Is the era of Top Gun over? May 2, 2024, Edwards Air Force Base, California. The midday sun is scorching in the Mojave Desert. An F-16, decked out in orange and white livery, revs its engines at the end of the runway. The roar of the Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan engine is the sound that has dominated the American skies for decades. Inside the canopy, in the front seat of the cockpit, sits Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, wearing a flight suit and helmet. This is no ordinary test flight. There is no human pilot at the controls of a fighter jet.

It is an algorithm engraved on a silicon chip, artificial intelligence learned from millions of virtual battles. Secretary Kendall doesn't touch the steering wheel. The same goes for the safety pilot in the back seat. The aircraft leaves the runway and soars into the sky. And soon, another F-16, piloted by a human, appears. The two fighter jets begin to rush towards each other at 900 kilometers per hour. In 1986, the movie Top Gun took theaters around the world by storm. Do you remember the scene where Tom Cruise, wearing sunglasses, grabbed the control stick and competed in the sky with his rival Iceman? Pete Mitchell, call sign Maverick.

He was a reckless pilot who broke the rules, but ultimately won. Human intuition, guts, and above all, the heart behind the steering wheel decided the winner. Fighter pilot was soon another name for a hero. 36 years later, in 2022, the sequel Top Gun: Maverick was released. At the beginning of the film, Maverick, now with all his gray hair, pilots the hypersonic test vehicle Darkstar. However, his project is in danger of being cancelled. What is the reason? This is because the budget goes to the drone program. In the movie, an admiral speaks coldly to Maverick. “The era of pilots like you is over.” Maverick retorts.

And the movie moves on to the story of a human pilot completing a mission with his indomitable will. The audience cheered. But reality was already moving in a different direction.

Washington D.C. in August 2020, two years before the film was released. A quiet competition was held at the nearby Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. This is the Alpha Dogfight Trial hosted by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under the U.S. Department of Defense. Artificial intelligences developed by eight teams fought each other while driving a virtual F-16 in the simulator. The AI ​​that made it to the finals was an algorithm created by a small startup called Heron Systems. This AI defeated all other AIs in the preliminaries. And then the final opponent appeared. It's human.

Active duty F-16 pilot in the U.S. Air Force, call sign Bangor. He was a veteran with over 2,000 hours of flying experience. In the virtual cockpit, Banger took the controls. Confrontation between AI and humans. The results were shocking. 5 to 0. It was a complete victory for AI. In five engagements, Bangor failed to land a single effective hit on the AI. Instead, they were shot down every time. AI made judgments at a speed that humans could not handle and maneuvered at angles that humans could not predict. Bangor said after the competition: “Honestly, it was more of awe than surprise.” It was in a simulator. virtual reality.

It wasn't real sky. So some said: The actual flight would be different. In the simulation, there is no air resistance, no vibration of the engine, and no pilot's body being crushed by G-force. Reality is always more complicated. Three years later, in September 2023, Edwards Air Force Base again. Researchers from DARPA's Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program parked a modified F-16 called the X-62A VISTA on the runway. The fighter jet was equipped with AI algorithms that fought tens of millions of virtual battles in simulations.

And for the first time in history, a fighter jet controlled by artificial intelligence engaged in an aerial battle with an F-16 driven by a human pilot in the real sky. At 1,900 kilometers per hour, the two aircraft rushed toward each other and approached up to 600 meters away. Nose to nose engagement. It was a real dogfight. Who won? The military has not made an official announcement. They said it was for national security reasons. But that didn't matter. What was important was the fact that the AI ​​could control real fighter jets and conduct dogfights. The wall of simulation has collapsed.

The final line between virtuality and reality has been broken down. And in May 2024, Secretary Kendall personally boarded the fighter jet. The Minister flew for an hour. I experienced rapid maneuvering at a speed of 885 kilometers per hour and 5G acceleration of gravity applied to my body. A dogfight that involves twisting and turning within 300 meters of an F-16 driven by a human pilot.

witnessed. I didn't touch the controls. Secretary Kendall had a smile on his face as he opened the canopy and got off after the flight. he told reporters. “Not having this technology is a security risk. We must have it now.” And I added one more thing. When asked whether it would be possible to entrust the decision to fire weapons to AI, the minister nodded. “I saw enough on today’s flight. I can trust you.” This is the reality we live in. Humanity has sought to conquer the sky for thousands of years. In ancient Greek mythology, Icarus soared into the sky with wings made of wax, but fell because he got too close to the sun.

Thousands of years later, in 1903, the Wright brothers flew 36 meters in 12 seconds from Kitty Hawk Beach. Just 66 years later, in 1969, humans set foot on the moon. On the battlefield, airplanes evolved from reconnaissance vehicles to bombers and then to fighter planes. Biplane pilots in World War I shot each other with pistols. In World War II, Mustangs and Spitfires clashed with Messerschmitts across the skies of Europe. The jet age began in MiG Alley during the Korean War. In Vietnam, an F-4 Phantom pursued an enemy plane and fired a missile. During the Gulf War, the F-117 stealth plane split the night sky of Baghdad.

All of those moments had something in common. There was always a human in the cockpit. There was a person whose heart was pounding, sweating, feeling afraid, and yet he did not let go of the steering wheel. Fighters were an extension of pilots. A fighter plane without a pilot was unimaginable. But now that formula is about to change. Artificial intelligence never gets tired. I know no fear. They do not lose consciousness even under 9G acceleration of gravity. Performs millions of calculations per second. While human pilots can blink, AI analyzes situations, makes decisions, and executes maneuvers. The U.S.

Air Force is already planning a fleet of more than 1,000 AI unmanned fighter jets. The first Coordinated Combat Aircraft (CCA) is scheduled to enter operational service in 2028. Next to the F-35 stealth aircraft driven by a human pilot, unmanned fighter jets controlled by AI will follow as wingmen. A loyal wingman. That's their name.

It's not just America. China is developing stealth unmanned aerial vehicles such as the GJ-11 Yigeom and Amgeom. Europe is pursuing two sixth-generation fighter projects: GCAP Tempest and FCAS. The Republic of Korea is also planning a next-generation air combat system (NACS) based on the KF-21 Boramae. Japan, Israel and Turkiye follow. A new competition for control of heaven has begun. This book contains that story.

From the time when drones first appeared, how the Predator and Reaper evolved into battlefield assassins, the shock of AI defeating humans 5-0 in the Alphado Gfight, and even the aerial battle between AI and humans that actually took place in the sky. We explain how a technology called reinforcement learning makes fighter planes fly, how the experience gained in simulation is transferred to reality, and how data collected by sensors are fused to find the enemy. Concepts of wingman drones and swarm tactics, sixth-generation fighters, and intelligent formations are also covered. And the inevitable questions.

Can machines decide the life and death of humans? Who should pull the trigger? Who is responsible when AI makes a mistake? Is the era of Top Gun really over? The answer to that question is not simple. Maybe Maverick is right. On the battlefield, human judgment and intuition may still be irreplaceable. But the moment an AI took control of an F-16 in the skies above Edwards Air Force Base and faced off against a human pilot, something changed irrevocably. The question now is not whether AI will replace humans. How will we work together? Who will be the ruler of heaven? Let us now embark together on a journey to find the answer. 2026. 1. 17.

AI researcher Kim Gyeong-jin