US Special Operations Command awarded a $50 million contract to aviation technology firm Beacon AI as part of a push to give military pilots more access to artificial intelligence features.
The four-year contract will integrate Beacon AI technology that takes a swath of aircraft data including weather, routes and pilot actions and feeds it through artificial intelligence-enabled software to help pilots make quicker decisions as they fly.
The capability provides an “R2-D2 for pilots,” Beacon AI CEO and co-founder Matt Cox said in an interview, in a reference to the plucky Star Wars droid.
Special Operations Command, which typically maintains ...