Matthew Nelson
Buffalo, N.Y.-based research and testing company Calspan will build a full-scale system for air combat experimentation under a four-year, $14.1M contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Calspan said Wednesday its flight research unit will incorporate an autonomous flight control technology into four L-39 Albatros trainer aircraft manufactured by Aero Vodochody as part of DARPA's Air Combat Evolution program.
The ACE program will focus on developing and demonstrating artificial intelligence algorithms that could perform visual air-to-air engagements and other tactical workloads that pilots usually perform.
Modified jet trainers will take off from Calspan's facility at the Niagara Falls International Airport in New York and fly in a military operating area close to Lake Ontario during flight tests.
