The head of Air Force Special Operations Command revealed that an AI-powered intelligence collection and transfer system has been in use since the “first day” of Operation Epic Fury to help large attack drones and manned aircraft avoid Iranian threats.
Speaking at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Michael Conley said “necessity had been the mother of invention” in spurring the service to apply available machine learning tools to combat operations.
“On the first day, they realized that our MQ-9 [Reaper drones] and other aircraft were at risk in a very hostile environment, and they were able to take some smart people, use artificial intelligence tools, and put humans on the loop, instead of in the process the whole time, and move Top Secret national-level intel,” Conley said, referring to his “small team” of AI and tech specialists.
The process of moving intelligence would have taken human operators “20 to 30 minutes to get that to a crew, into a cockpit, or into a ground control station,” he said.
Instead, Conley said, nine crew members were able to use AI “bots” to convert applicable data to a Secret clearance level and make it available in the cockpits of aircraft — all within two to three seconds.
“We have data that indicates that we’ve saved a lot of aircraft over the last 60 days using that tool, just to provide a better battlefield situational awareness,” Conley said.
Conley also confirmed the Air Force was using its AI-powered exploitation and dissemination tools to help intelligence analysts process huge amounts of complex data, including full-motion video.
“[In] a very heavy, human-intensive process, they’ve been able to use AI again, just smart humans getting together, figuring out solutions in order to proliferate that information across the intel community in seconds, rather than what could take hours in normal processes,” he said. “So we’re learning every day, and we’re getting better every day.”
To date, two U.S. aircraft have been downed by hostile fire over Iran: an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet and an A-10 Thunderbolt attack plane. Three more F-15s were lost to friendly fire over Kuwait.
Reportedly, some 24 Reaper drones have been destroyed by Iran over the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere. An Air Force F-35A Joint Strike Fighter also sustained severe damage over Iran.
While aviation losses have been significant, Conley’s comments offer a rare window into prospective casualties that may have been averted, and how AFSOC is employing emerging tools to expand its operational picture.
The Air Force recently released contracting documents for a desired “Next-Generation Air Operations Center Weapon System” that would deliver more AI tools to planners at the geographic combatant commands, an effort for which it has not specified a procurement timeline.
Conley hailed MQ-9 operations in Epic Fury particularly noteworthy.
“Our MQ-9 enterprise proved that adaptive airmen can transform any platform and mission envelope, destroying hundreds of targets in contested operating areas,” he said. “I believe recent operations have been the MQ-9 community’s finest hour.”
He also hailed the work of AFSOC in rescuing two downed F-15 pilots in April in a daring and widely praised joint operation. The mission resulted in the loss of two MC-130 aircraft as well as four Army MH-6 Little Bird helicopters. Conley said he’d like to see the aircraft replaced quickly, although he said he expected it to “take some time.”
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