Chinese missile AI tracks F-22, F-35-like heat signatures with over 90% accuracy
The F-35 and F-22 may be among the world’s most advanced stealth fighters, but they cannot hide one thing: heat. When heat-seeking missiles lock onto aircraft, fighters release flares to confuse infrared sensors and break missile tracking. But the infrared signals produced by fighters, including heat from engine exhaust and air friction over the fuselage, are different from those generated by…
Advanced Chinese researchers have developed an artificial intelligence system that could potentially track stealth fighter jets like the F-22 and F-35. Utilizing heat signatures emitted by these aircraft, the lightweight AI model demonstrates over 90% accuracy in distinguishing these jets from other targets. This breakthrough could render existing flares ineffective and improve missile guidance systems for future air combat.
The study, published in the Chinese Journal of Electronic Measurement and Instrumentation, was conducted by researchers from the Beijing Institute of Technology, the China Airborne Missile Academy, and a national key laboratory for near-surface detection. The lightweight AI model, which fits within strict size, weight, and power constraints, utilized optimization techniques to reduce its parameter count by 16.1% and computational requirements by 19.2%.
The final system achieved a recognition accuracy of 96.4% in tests using 3,245 infrared target images, with an average inference time of 1.5 milliseconds and power consumption of 2.2 watts.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
