AIAA HDI-25 Aircraft Design; Emerging Ethical Concerns in International Airspace: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The U.S. Air Force operates some of the most advanced fighter jets in the world, yet these programs are increasingly burdened by high production costs and long development timelines. The need for a low-cost, technologically advanced, quickly produced defense interceptor is readily apparent. Thus, the current movement of technological advancement is introducing artificial intelligence (AI) systems to optimize performance and decision making. As remotely piloted and autonomous systems become more prevalent in military operations, ethical concerns surrounding AI integration grow increasingly urgent. These include issues of accountability, the erosion of human oversight, and potential violations of Just War Theory and International Humanitarian Law.

To address the need for a lower-cost alternative, my Technical Capstone team designed a remotely piloted fighter jet optimized for point defense and interception with a target cost of under $25 million. The design integrates government-furnished avionics, a high-performance aerodynamic configuration, advanced materials, and mitigation strategies for communication latency and signal loss. We performed intensive propulsion calculations and ran modeling simulations for the structural strength and aerodynamic physics interactions to test our design’s acceleration, turning and stability.

The human and social implications of a remotely piloted fighter jet illuminate the importance of ethical design based on moral frameworks. My STS Research, through a robust systems analysis using Actor-Network Theory, explores the relationships between human and non-human entities in autonomous weapons systems, identifying risks of misuse as well as frameworks for ethical deployment. This analysis revealed complexities involved with different integrations of AI, including human in the loop and human on the loop systems, as well as training based on sound data sets to minimize bias. My research clearly identifies a recommendation to ground defense interceptor AI training in the nation’s ideals and abiding in a strict desired ethical framework.

In summary, my capstone project and the related ethical concerns demonstrate the dual importance of technological innovation and ethical responsibility. The project requires engineers to engage in "ethics by design," ensuring that systems are not only effective but also align with national values and humanitarian principles. This work deepened my understanding of fighter jet design, international law, and the implications of machine learning in modern warfare, highlighting the need for thoughtful, rules-based approaches to emerging military technologies.

School of Engineering and Applied Science

Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Technical Advisor: Thomas Ward

STS Advisor: Sean Murray

Technical Team Members: Agha Mohammad Ali, Savannah Hafer, Reid Smith, William Couch, Evan Hahn, June Wiles, Matthew Shin, Nora Wilkerson