Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency | Solicitation Number: HR001119S0051
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative proposals for the Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program.
The ACE program will increase warfighter trust in combat autonomy by automating aerial within-visual-range (WVR) maneuvering, colloquially known as a dogfight, using progressively realistic platforms (following demonstrations in modeling and simulation, the program will graduate to small-scale unmanned aerial vehicles, and culminate on operationally representative aircraft).
A dogfight represents the progression in autonomy from current physics-based automation generally trusted by operators to more complex human-machine collaboration necessary to realize the promise of future manned/unmanned teaming.