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Swedish company Saab has made history by operating fighter jets using Helsing’s Centaur AI system and successfully outperforming human pilots. The technology was integrated into a Gripen E fighter jet and tested against human pilots in a series of Beyond Visual Range (BVR) engagements.
The milestones achieved during these flights mark the first time an operational combat airplane has executed complex dogfighting tactics by itself and outperformed unassisted human pilots in a realistic environment.
The breakthrough test flights for the AI-operated fighter jets started in May
The test campaign, conducted under Saab’s “Project Beyond” and fully funded by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), consisted of three flights between May 28 and June 3, 2025. The Gripen E handed over full flying control to Centaur during the May 28 inaugural flight, allowing the AI to manage navigation, target acquisition, and simulated weapons deployment in a BVR scenario.
Autonomous AI-agent fly BVR-combat on #Gripen E
"Saab, in collaboration with Helsing, today announced the successful completion of the first three flights integrating Helsing’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) agent ‘Centaur’ into a Gripen E"
Source: https://t.co/wyVPdu4vE6 pic.twitter.com/x1HiKl4p0h
— Gripen News (@GripenNews) June 11, 2025
By the third flight on June 3, Centaur faced off directly against a human-piloted Gripen D in dynamic, sensor-rich engagements.
The AI-driven Gripen E not only demonstrated the ability to track and engage targets at tens of kilometers or miles distance but also executed evasive and offensive maneuvers with precision that, according to Saab, would have overwhelmed a non-AI-assisted pilot’s cognitive capabilities.
The Centaur AI System
Centaur is developed by the Munich-based company Helsing, founded in 2021. It is designed exclusively for democratically governed nations and has already proven its worth in war zones by powering AI-enabled drones in Ukraine.
Helsing’s Vice President of Artificial Intelligence, Antoine Bordes, said Centaur “flew with the equivalent of 50 years of pilot experience, but it only took a few hours to acquire that experience” through accelerated virtual simulations.
Thanks to the Gripen E’s open avionics architecture, Saab was able to integrate the AI software without major structural modifications. Peter Nilsson, Head of Advanced Programs at Saab Aeronautics, highlighted that the swift integration underscores “the qualitative edge” Saab gains by leveraging software-defined capabilities in its fighters.
The simulations pitted AI against Human Pilots
In simulated BVR engagements, Centaur autonomously processed real-time sensor data to assess multiple threats, calculated optimal firing solutions, and instructed the hypothetical pilot to deploy simulated air-to-air missiles.
It achieved this even when command-control data streams were selectively disabled to test resilience under degraded conditions.
Saab test pilot and Innovation Director Marcus Wandt emphasized the significance of this milestone, saying, “It will be very difficult for a pilot to win in air combat against an opponent assisted by AI. While there are still scenarios where human skill can prevail, that advantage will evaporate quickly.” These results suggest that AI-assisted fighters could soon redefine aerial superiority by outthinking and outmaneuvering human adversaries.
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