By Tim Hepher

PARIS (Reuters) -Sweden's Saab and German defence startup Helsing have conducted combat testing of a Gripen E warplane flown by AI against a real fighter pilot, they said on Wednesday, in a step forward in European efforts to compete on autonomy in defence.

Last week's trial is the first publicly known instance of artificial intelligence being tested in a warplane beyond visual range (BVR) rather than in a close-range dogfight, or that AI has controlled a fully fledged jet rather than a test plane.

In May last year, then-U.S. Air Force secretary Frank Kendall flew in a modified F-16 called X-62A VISTA fitted with machine learning supplied by Shield AI to demonstrate the ability of AI to enter aerial battle with a crewed F-16.

The European trials, known as "Project Beyond", included three flights carried out between May 28 and June 3, the last of which pitted Helsing's "Centaur" AI agent piloting a Gripen E against a human-operated Gripen D fighter jet, the companies said.

Funded by the Swedish government, the trial was inconclusive on whether the human Top Gun or the AI-powered foe performed better, but the trial highlights an increasing focus on integrating AI and autonomy into combat systems.

"I would say it is not a given who will win... you have to be on your game as a pilot," Saab's Chief Innovation Officer Marcus Wandt, who is also a Swedish astronaut and ex-fighter pilot, told reporters.

"If you need to retrain for a new weapon system or new tactics, it will be difficult to stay on par. Right now there are still pilots out there that will have a chance, but that will change fast."

NEXT-GEN COMBAT JETS

The trial comes as Saab is exploring concepts for the next generation of combat jets expected to combine crewed and uncrewed planes, under Sweden's KFS future air combat study.

Sweden has not decided whether to continue to pursue its own independent fighter plane as a successor to Saab's home-grown Gripen.

It was previously involved with Britain's Tempest fighter project, but pulled back to focus on its own research as the programme widened to include Japan and Italy. The other major European fighter in the works is the Franco-German-Spanish fighter programme widely known as SCAF.

Kendall, who stepped down with the outgoing Biden administration after leading the U.S. next-generation fighter project that laid the groundwork for the recently launched F-47, has said AI decision-making will routinely overpower humans.

However, Western projects for incorporating AI into weapons systems call for humans to be able to intervene at some point.

Saab and Helsing executives said the AI initiative exemplified the need for fast development timelines and dismissed the 10- or 15-year timetables of rival projects.

Details of their trial were unveiled ahead of next week's Paris Airshow, following months of simulator work in which the executives said the Centaur AI agent was fed the equivalent of 30 years' of experience every week.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)