In an effort to create smarter unmanned systems for global forces, Boeing Australia and Australia’s Trusted Autonomous Systems Defence Cooperative Research Centre (DCRC) will collaborate on the development of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

According to Boeing Australia, equipping unmanned systems with machine learning techniques will help them better understand and react to threat environments.

“Over the next 12 months, Boeing Australia will design and test cognitive AI algorithms to enable sensing under anti-access conditions and to navigate and conduct enhanced tactics in denied environments,” says Dr. Shane Arnott, director of Phantom Works International.

The first innovation project between the two entities will examine an unmanned system’s route planning, location, and identification of objects, and its subsequent behavioral response.

Boeing Australia notes that back in 2017, the Australian Government announced that the DCRC for Trusted Autonomous Systems would support the “rapid creation and transition of industry-led trustworthy smart-machine technologies through the innovation ecosystem to the Australian Defence Force.”

“Together with Boeing, we are investing in advanced technology that can have real game-changing product outcomes for our military to match the evolving threats and achieve a sustainable autonomous industry for Australia,” explains Professor Jason Scholz, chief executive officer of the DCRC for Trusted Autonomous Systems.

Boeing will work with Australian university partners and RF Designs, a supplier based in Brisbane, to flight-test and evaluate the capability with autonomous high performance jets.