Action time near future ... Closer than you think ...
- First target destroyed! The object is flying towards the following targets! - the engineer looked up from the monitors and turned with delight to the round table at which the commission members were sitting- a general, two colonels, young and old, a captain and a man in civilian clothes, a little further off the rest. Of all the members of the commission, he was the only one who was not in military uniform. In fact, those present themselves saw everything, the whole room for monitoring the progress of the tests was hung with monitors, but the engineer, like any creator, seeing the success of the brainchild could not restrain his delight. So much effort and time spent and now everything is coming to an end. Nearby back and forth, the head of the department of advanced developments of the Daedalus corporation nervously walked, he could not sit still, because today, based on the test results, the commission had to decide whether to continue financing the Invincible project or look for other contractors. And there was no shortage of people willing to put their hand into the pocket of the Ministry of Defense. The chairman of the commission is a general who was 50and for all seventy years he looked impassively at the monitors.
- Great, - there was no delight in the general's voice and sarcasm sounded. “Your wonder fighter just destroyed the mannequin shed. We will be happy when the rest of the test stages are passed. I don't think it's worth reminding the rest of the audience that the development program was very long, and the budget was greatly exceeded. If the tests fail, then your company, ”he turned to the head of the department,“ will have to invest its own funds to complete the work, or, ”the general made an effective pause,“ we will transfer the project to another corporation. Stop wasting taxpayer money. Congress is very unhappy, and last week I had an extremely unpleasant conversation with the Secretary of Defense.
The engineer nodded and returned to his workplace to observe the condition of the object. There was still time before entering the engagement zone of the next targets, so the young colonel reached for a vase of sweets on the table. The old colonel was talking about something with the captain, the general was still staring at the monitors impassively. Only an expressionless, “gray” man in civilian clothes, the only one from the commission who had little knowledge of aviation, was studying with interest the contents of the folder in front of him. Exactly the same folders lay in front of each of the members of the commission, before the start of testing they were distributed by the head of the development department. Each folder bore the letter D, the inner part of which was crossed by lightning from the upper left corner to the lower right - the logo of the Daedalus corporation, the largest manufacturer and supplier of weapons and military equipment.The slogan of the corporation was written under the letter D: "We bring the future closer." Considering that it mainly produced high-precision weapons, the slogan was very unhappy. Although, perhaps, he was more related to developments in the space industry, where this corporation was also noted. Dimensions, mass indicators, parameters of thrust and speed, electronic warfare system, the latest camouflage system - the gaze of the "gray" man slid over the characteristics and capabilities of the machine - so, but now it becomes more interesting. Apart from air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, there was also a Gauss cannon as a replacement for conventional aircraft cannons. And most importantly, it was all controlled by artificial intelligence. The newest next generation multifunctional fighter was not piloted,there was not even room for a person in the cockpit.
- Gentlemen! - The head of the department decided to fill the gap while the commission members were waiting for the next stage of testing. - We are all now witnesses of the transition of humanity one step forward, into a new era! An era when people do not have to be directly on the battlefield! Everything will be done by machines. Just imagine, a pilot who does not get tired, does not make mistakes, makes decisions with lightning speed!
The general stared at the monitors with the same dispassionateness, then turned his gaze to the head of the department. - You want to say that we are people - he looked around the military sitting at the table - we will not be needed?
“Only for making strategic decisions,” the head of the department was not at all embarrassed by the question asked, and it seemed he was even waiting for it. - But the cars will soon be at war. And the very tactics of warfare will change with their appearance. Remember the close maneuver air combat - the confrontation of aircraft at extremely small distances. This type of combat is considered one of the most difficult, as it is very fleeting and imposes the highest demands on the pilot's endurance and speed of decision-making. It was actively practiced in the First and Second World Wars, but after the Second World War it was considered obsolete, since then homing missiles began to appear, radar systems capable of detecting flying targets at long distances, and aircraft began to fly faster. The most important thing now isdetect the enemy on the radar as quickly as possible and shoot him down with a missile.
Often, pilots do not even see the enemy aircraft visually. But progress does not stand still. Aircraft are becoming less visible, and they are better and better hidden from infrared search and tracking systems, radars, and visual target detection systems. Because of this, in order to reliably detect an enemy aircraft, it will be necessary to reduce the distance until long-range and medium-range missiles begin to lose their advantages. In this case, we again return to close maneuver combat, from which air battles once began. And given the modern speeds of combat aircraft, we will talk about very large overloads during close combat, overloads that not every human body can withstand. But in our fighter there is no man in the cockpit, so monstrous overloads are not terrible for him, moreover,the reaction speed of the onboard artificial intelligence exceeds that of a human. And you've seen that already. Three years ago when our program beat your best fighter pilots in airplane simulator duels.
The soldiers sitting at the table were silent. The general winced.
- Nobody argues with this, the reaction of a computer is better than a human. But all this was on the simulator - it was noticeable that the general was unpleasant to admit the victory of the machine over the man. - Controlling a real plane, albeit in a training battle, is a completely different matter. Let's see how your artificial intelligence controls a car in the sky.
- The object entered the zone of destruction of air defense systems, - the engineer again commented on what was happening on the monitors. “If they find it, a missile salvo will be fired from the ground at our fighter.
The general grinned carnivore. - Now the miracle fighter will come to an end and it will be possible to go home, - he thought.
- General, sir, - the officer monitoring the state of the air defense means uncertainly addressed the general. - Our radar stations cannot detect the target ... - judging by the tone of his voice, the officer was very upset.
The general's eyebrows went up in surprise, the rest of the military were just as surprised.
“The object launched an air-to-ground missile,” the engineer again commented on the events on the monitors. “The radar stations have been destroyed, and the mobile missile systems too,” the engineer's eyes shone with delight.
The head of the development department put his hips on his hips and glanced around the commission proudly. - The second stage was completed successfully. Moving on to the third stage soon.
The third stage was a real dogfight with a group of unmanned aerial vehicles controlled automatically and remotely by people. But the head of the department did not doubt the victory of his development. Daedalus had its own test sites, where an experimental fighter could easily deal with unmanned aerial vehicles.
He outnumbered them too much. In much the same way that an eagle is superior to a chicken. The head of the department wanted to laugh at this comparison, but he restrained himself. It is too early, so we will successfully complete the tests, then we will laugh!
“The ground control station reports that twelve of our drones have taken off to intercept the object,” said the officer monitoring the readings on the monitors.
“I remind you,” the head of the department raised his voice, “your drones will use all the weapons installed on them, both for close combat and long-range combat. Now the engineer will put a temporary ban on the use of all weapons, except for the Gauss cannon, and our experimental fighter will use only this melee weapon. That is, he was initially placed in unequal conditions with the attackers. Destroying them from a distance would be too uninteresting.
The general nodded silently. The head of the department, this pompous cretin annoyed the general more and more.
“Our drones were destroyed, all at once,” the officer's voice trembled, “destroyed before they could find the target themselves.
- How at once? - The head of the department turned to the engineer. "Shouldn't he have shot them with a Gauss cannon?" He used an electromagnetic cannon and burned all the electronics on the drones?
The engineer strenuously checked the data coming from the fighter. “Yes, he used an electromagnetic cannon and burned all their electronics, from a distance.
“Well, it was even faster that way,” said the head of the department, who seemed to be able to benefit from everything.
The general was still staring gloomily at the monitors. The old colonel decided to speak.
- Why didn't your fighter start shooting drones from the Gauss cannon?
The head of department looked pleadingly at the engineer for an answer.
- The decision on which weapon to use is made by the onboard artificial intelligence. Experiments have shown that he tries to make the most optimal decision in each situation based on the task. It seems that in this situation, the most optimal solution was not to waste rockets or Gauss cannon charges, but simply to burn the drones with an electromagnetic pulse. At least that's what the on-board computer thought. I can give commands to the fighter from the remote control, but now I just didn't have time to do it, and he made the decision himself.
- How did he determine that these were drones? - the old colonel did not calm down.
- He is able to independently search for targets and, after finding them, identify them, - the engineer seemed about to burst with pride in his brainchild.
“I see,” the old colonel's answers seemed to suit him.
- Gentlemen! - the head of the department again gave a voice. - We are moving on to the last, fourth stage. He is the most interesting and the most intense. Let me remind you that the fourth stage is a training fight with people. The best fighter pilots of our time. A duel between a machine and a man! Albeit educational, but still. This is a fundamental opposition, I would even say the opposition of flesh and metal!
“A flight of four of our fighters flew to intercept the object,” the officer said. - They are accompanied by another plane, which will be filming.
- Four to one! - the head of the department smiled broadly, - an honest duel!
The General looked thoughtfully at the monitors. One of them showed how five points were moving.
- Now your fighters will be detected by his radar, after that he will decide to reduce the distance and start a battle. Your people will also have to reduce the distance to detect him, since his concealment system is more perfect than that of opponents. And then, a training close maneuvering battle will begin, - the head of the development department turned to the general.
“Turn off all weapons for him,” the head of the department said to the engineer. “Let the intended use of the weapon be logged.
- Already done, - said the engineer, not looking up from the monitor.
- Gentlemen! - the head of the department addressed the commission again. Pay attention to these monitors. ”He pointed to a number of the largest monitors under the ceiling. Cameras are installed on the ground to observe and record the training air battle. Watch and enjoy! The onboard artificial intelligence installed in the experimental fighter was trained in 11 billion combat simulations. Among other things, we used the so-called reinforcement learning, where the artificial neural networks underlying the onboard artificial intelligence receive signals from the environment in which they have to operate. With each new simulation, networks learn to find the optimal solution. This, multiplied by the highest reaction speed of the machine,insensitivity to extreme overloads when maneuvering at high speeds and the latest engineering solutions used in the design of this fighter make this aircraft invincible! Welcome to the new world!
- An experimental fighter has detected suspected enemies! - the engineer commented on the events again.
- The flight of our fighters is divided into pairs of lead-slave, but they still cannot detect the enemy, - the officer said in a sad voice, looking up from the monitors.
- Our fighter discovered the impossibility of using missiles and is reducing the distance to start close maneuvering combat, - the engineer continued to comment.
“The fighters have detected the enemy, are closing the distance, the leaders and the followers are separated to attack from different sides,” judging by the voice, the officer cheered up a little.
The members of the commission looked with interest at the monitors on which a training air battle was taking place. The corporation's experimental fighter was performing aerobatics. It either spun flat on its axis, searching for opponents with a minimum turn, then reduced its speed to almost zero, rising vertically with the entire plane of the fuselage, like a disturbed snake before throwing it on the victim. Again and again, he eluded the attacking planes, quickly changing altitude and direction, going "on the tail" of the enemy. It all looked mesmerizing. There was no longer any doubt about his superiority. The commission stared at the monitors, but exactly until the moment when the experimental fighter suddenly began to climb abruptly, hiding behind the clouds.
- What is he doing? - An alarm was heard in the general's voice, he turned his gaze from the monitors and now gazed intently at the head of the development department.
The head of department repeated the general's question and stared at the engineer himself. He, as if chained, did not take his eyes off the monitor, where the data from the fighter came.
- What is he doing? - with pressure in his voice repeated the head of the department, - why did he begin to climb?
The engineer looked up from the monitor and looked at the commission, he was as pale as a sheet. “I think I’m guessing,” the engineer stuttered, “he fought a mock battle with the weapons turned off, we already did this when we checked it, and everything was fine, we already did that,” the engineer repeated.
The head of the department jumped up to the engineer, pale as death, grabbed him by the collar and began to shake him. - Stop mumbling! - he raised his voice. - What is this damn fighter doing?
- He gains sufficient altitude, then turns off the power plant, engines, and then begins to dive down. Then, in the fall, he will turn it on again. The shutdown is necessary to restart all systems, he tries to turn on the weapons systems that we blocked him!
“They can't be turned on without us, damn it! - the head of the department could no longer hold back, switching to a shout.
- Theoretically, it is possible if you turn off the power plant and restart all systems, after which the self-diagnostic system will check and turn on the weapon. And then ... he will continue the fight, but with the weapon systems turned on ...
- Get the planes out of there, immediately! - the general jumped up from his seat and gave instructions to the officer sitting at the monitor, - pass the ground control stations, let the mobile missile systems be put into battle! Everything that is in the neighborhood! We must bring down this creature! What does he have left of weapons? - the general turned to the engineer. - Try to turn it off, put it on the ground, I don't know, do the devil do something! You can send him commands!
Recovering himself, the engineer, who had stood rooted to the spot before, rushed to his place.
- He still has a pair of missiles - "air-to-air" and "air-to-ground", one thermobaric bomb and a Gauss cannon from which he has not fired today ...
- Where is he flying? - now the head of the department was as pale as a sheet.
- He restarted all systems and stopped sending data. I think he will pursue the fighters with which there was a training battle. And the attack will most likely start with the launch of an air-to-air missile ..., ”the engineer looked at the members of the commission with eyes widening in horror.
Everyone turned their eyes to the monitor, where they could see how five points were moving - four fighters and an airplane that was filming a training battle. After a few seconds, there were four points. The general swore.
- General, sir! The ground control station reports that the missile systems are trying to detect the enemy, the officer said.
- Let them try better! - the general's face turned red, it seemed that a blow would be enough for him now. “You… you two…” he selected his words, looking at the engineer and the head of the department. - You two will go to my tribunal! - apparently about the fact that both were civilians, he forgot.
“I’m not running it anymore,” the engineer said, lost. - After restarting all systems, it blocked receiving commands from the outside.
- Is that possible? The young colonel said.
“Perhaps,” the head of the department answered for the engineer, “within the framework of electronic warfare, the fighter suppresses attempts to intercept control or obtain information from it,” he wearily sank into a chair next to him. - It seems that now he perceives us as enemies ...
- Look! - the old colonel pointed to the monitor, where one after another dots were extinguished. “He destroyed the remaining three fighters and the escort plane.
- I order to immediately evacuate from the building! Right now! - the general was as red as cancer. - Where is your damn fighter, what is he doing now?
- Due to the latest camouflage system, he is not visible on radars, and data from him no longer come to me, - the engineer looked around with a wandering glance at the room where they were all.
“I’m afraid he’s somewhere close,” said the old colonel. “We’re leaving here.
Everyone in the room quickly moved out of the control center.
“There are cars on the street,” the general continued to issue instructions on the way. “We’ll sit in them and go to the bunker, which is a couple of miles away. We'll sit there until your damn fighter is shot down.
They did not have time to reach the exit, because an air bomb with a thermobaric charge fell on the building of the control center, which they were hastily going to leave. The experimental fighter remembered from what point the control commands were sent to it.
20.07.2019-08.09.2020