KAU Holds Preliminary Round of 'AI Pilot' Competition... "AI Flies an F-16 in a Virtual Dogfight"

[Financial News]  Korea Aerospace University (KAU) held the preliminary round of the '2026 AI Pilot Top Gun Challenge' on the 27th and 28th on campus. A total of 290 teams and 873 people from more than 80 universities nationwide applied to participate, and 84 teams took part in the preliminaries.
The participating teams developed AI pilot agents using behavior trees and reinforcement learning. In the competition, each team's AI model is tested in the same F-16 Fighting Falcon and simulation environment to compare performance.
The matches are conducted by applying each team's AI to the same F-16 Fighting Falcon and simulation environment to compare performance. They are held in a one-on-one 'dogfight' format between two fighter jets.
Each match lasts 200 seconds. If a team shoots down the opponent first with cannon fire, it wins immediately. If no aircraft is shot down within the time limit, the winner is decided based on remaining health. A penalty is imposed if a team avoids combat and simply runs out the clock.
The angle and distance at which cannon fire is recognized as a hit also become more lenient as the match progresses. The format is designed to assess search and maneuvering skills early on, and actual combat capability later in the match.
The 16 teams that advance from the preliminaries will move on to the finals on Sept. 17. The finals will be held in a four-group round-robin stage followed by a quarterfinal knockout tournament.
The grand prize winner will receive the Minister of Science and ICT Award and 10 million won in prize money. The total prize pool is 25 million won.
The competition is hosted by KAU and organized by the SW-Centered University Project Group. It is sponsored by the Ministry of Science and ICT, KASA, DAPA, and the ROK Air Force.

[email protected] Lee Bo-mi Reporter