Automated intelligent pilots for combat might simulation

TACAIR-SOAR is an intelligent, rule-based system that generates believable humanlike behavior for large-scale, distributed military simulations. The i nnovation of the application is primarily a matter of scale and integration . The system is capable of executing most of the airborne missions that the U.S. military flies in fixed-wing aircraft. It accomplishes its missions b y integrating a wide variety of intelligent capabilities, including real-ti me hierarchical execution of complex goals and plans, communication and coo rdination with humans and simulated entities, maintenance of situational aw areness, and the ability to accept and respond to new orders while in fligh t. The system is currently deployed at the Oceana Naval Air Station WISSARD (what-if simulation system for advanced research and development) Lab and the Air Force Research Laboratory in Mesa, Arizona. Its most dramatic use w as in the Synthetic Theater of War 1997, which was an operational training exercise that ran for 48 continuous hours during which TACAIR-SOAR flew all U.S. fixed-wing aircraft.