Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Aerospace and Defence

Posted by SolutionBuggy on February 8th, 2021

The future of aerospace and defence is heavily dependent upon the development of artificially intelligent weapons systems. The human brain has the ability to quickly evolve with technology, however as the competition increases and the cost of software decreases the only real option available is to outsource the task to computers. Whilst this is beneficial for the aerospace and defence industry there are obvious disadvantages which need to be addressed before too long. We will look at four of these disadvantages in this article.

The first disadvantage is the decrease in human effectiveness. Currently, all aerial vehicles are fitted with radar systems to help prevent minor mistakes such as a missile breaking up in flight or an aeroplane running into nearby buildings or hills. However, as soon as the software is capable of handling the accuracy required the requirement for human operators will no longer exist. The end result is aerial systems will be completely automated, however, this can have a number of undesirable implications for the aerospace and defence industry. Firstly it will reduce the number of man-hours needed to maintain the system, meaning that budgets will need to be increased to cover the additional costs involved, secondly, it could mean that more manpower will be required to operate the systems meaning a reduction in the size of the workforce necessary, and thirdly it could mean the development of robotic systems which are cheaper but cannot perform as well as a human can.

The second disadvantage is that once humans are no longer needed to operate the systems the system becomes vulnerable to viruses and other cyber attacks. Cyber attacks can not only cause data loss but can also cause hardware damage. Human errors such as a miss key input or the wrong input into a control system can cause entire platforms or aircraft to crash. If this happens many lives could be lost and valuable assets lost in a devastating way. Therefore the introduction of artificial intelligence into the aerospace and defence industries must be weighed up against the dangers of using such technologies.

How much does the military spend on its systems? Is it money that they can afford to lose? Will the systems be redundant once humans have taken over the operating process? These are all questions that must be answered before we move forward. Artificial intelligence is not going to be a beneficial addition to the defence and aerospace industries unless there is a way of ensuring that the software programs that are developed are robust enough to withstand attacks from hackers and other outside sources. The military needs to invest in its systems and make sure that any artificially intelligent systems it purchases are compatible with the rest of the systems that they are to be used alongside.

Furthermore, the developers of artificially intelligent software systems need to ensure that they incorporate with human systems in such a way that they are able to work together effectively. This would reduce the risk of hacking and would ensure that the software is as close to perfect as possible. In the future, artificial intelligence will most likely be included with human systems when designing new systems that are to replace systems on the market now, as well as future variants of existing systems. If future versions of software systems are not designed with the current user base in mind, then they could prove extremely problematic for that person or organisation.

In conclusion, there are a number of questions that must be asked before artificial intelligence is introduced into the aerospace and military industry. Questions like how much will the introduction of artificial intelligence cost and will it conflict with human systems on the same aircraft? How effective will it be as an attacker or defender in combat? How will future versions of artificial intelligence integrate with human systems, and how would we know that our artificial intelligence was compatible with the humans using the systems?

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