Australia's autonomous warplane fires first missile without a pilot
Australia's Ghost Bat autonomously shot down a target with an air-to-air missile, with no pilot in the cockpit.
The Ghost Bat is an Australian-made fighter jet about two-thirds the size of a regular warplane. In December, it shot down a target with an air-to-air missile over South Australia's desert.
An operator told it to engage the target. The aircraft worked out how to do it.
A human operator gave final approval before the missile fired. No pilot was in the cockpit.
No operator held a remote joystick. The aircraft shows how AI will reshape military warfare.
However, the defence force has built in safety limits. Humans must still approve before any shot is fired.
Defence Minister Richard Marles recently met with OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft and Google. They discussed where AI is heading.
Australia's defence force is racing to safely integrate AI into operations.
- two-thirds of regular fighter jet
- Ghost Bat size
- air-to-air
- Missile type
- South Australia desert
- Location
- December
- When it happened
Why it mattersAutonomous weapons powered by AI are no longer theoretical. They are being tested and deployed now. This raises urgent questions about the future of warfare and human control.
AustraliaAustralia is building its own autonomous military capability, putting it alongside Ukraine and other nations experimenting with AI-piloted weapons in live operations.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 47 min ago
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