China on Monday dispatched its advanced J-20 stealth fighters for the first time as it began a joint five-day military drill with Russia in the Northwest region of the country. Besides the fighter plane, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) also deployed many of its newest weapons, including the Y-20 large transport planes, during the exercise, the first since the COVID-19 outbreak, reported The South China Morning Post. Over 10,000 troops will take part in the Zapad/Interaction-2021 exercise held at the Ningxia Hui autonomous region where innovative combat tactics like emergency troop and heavy weapon drops, long-range strikes by J-16 fighter bombers, and the use of drones, will be displayed. Liu Xiaowu, commander-in-chief of the Chinese troops, told state broadcaster CCTV that 81% of weapons being used in the drill were "brand new." "That includes the J-20 [stealth fighter jet], KJ-500 [airborne early-warning and control aircraft], and J-16, while surveillance and combat drones and new armored vehicles will also [be involved]," he said.

The Pentagon may soon unleash an army of robotic drones that are fast and smart enough to fly alongside fighter planes. Two classes of drone designed to act as airborne wingmen in aerial missions have been unveiled by a Pentagon-backed startup in the Silicon Valley. Though still in the testing phase, the drones could one day be used to protect human life by absorbing the first wave of an aerial attack. Pictured is an artistic impression of what the XQ-222 Valkyrie will look like. The Pentagon may soon unleash an army of robotic drones that are fast and smart enough to fly alongside fighter planes.

Hilton Nunez felt more like an air traffic controller than the commander of six Hunter unmanned aerial vehicles. A division commander wanted a UAV to check for surface-to-air threats. A corps commander sought one to fly far ahead of advancing troops to gather intelligence for the next day's war planning. There were never enough UAVs to go around. "There was a constant battle over who would control the UAVs," Nunez says.

Since the inception of modern fighter planes, it has always been an unspoken assumption that at some point, machines would be flying the aircraft instead of human pilots. This assumption became even more solid once Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology started to pick up. Now, new test results via simulations have shown that AIs are superior to human pilots, particularly when using fighter planes. Engineers that graduated from the University of Cincinnati programmed an AI that was able to outmaneuver and outfly fighter pilots, Wired reports. The program is called "ALPHA," and through multiple simulations against former United States Air Force Colonel Gene Lee, the AI came out significantly ahead.

Since the inception of modern fighter planes, it has always been an unspoken assumption that at some point, machines would be flying the aircraft instead of human pilots. This assumption became even more solid once Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology started to pick up. Now, new test results via simulations have shown that AIs are superior to human pilots, particularly when using fighter planes. Engineers that graduated from the University of Cincinnati programmed an AI that was able to outmaneuver and outfly fighter pilots, Wired reports. The program is called "ALPHA," and through multiple simulations against former United States Air Force Colonel Gene Lee, the AI came out significantly ahead.