Recently uncovered documents reveal that the US Air Force approached Unity to develop a dogfight simulation for the “kill chain” branch, a military term for sourcing data, acquiring targets, and using weapons against those targets, before performing a strike.
The documents were released as part of a Freedom Of Information Act request and published by Vice’s Waypoint. Details show that Unity was contracted to improve an already existing simulation used by the US Air Force.
The Advanced Framework for Simulation, Integration and Modelling (AFSIM) needed to be improved because it used command lines to orchestrate the simulation but had an “irreplaceable physics engine” with data provided by the intelligence community, according to the documents.
Unity was specifically chosen by the US Air Force so that the system would require fewer operators and provide “better immersion and simulation quality than existing systems.” The software is used by the US Air Force’s Kill Chain Integration Branch. However, Unity stressed its simulation was for training purposes only.
“We completely understand why that may be confusing but the ‘kill chain’ reference does not actually have anything to do with our contract,” Matias Cavallin, senior PR manager at Unity, told Vice in an email. “It is simply the name of the contracting agency (AFLCMC/HNJ) that procured Unity for the ‘Prototype Project’—again focused on simulating scenarios that could help modernize their pilot training and simulation solutions. Ultimately, the project was not implemented and there are currently no plans for implementation with Unity’s technology.”
Last year, it was revealed that Unity was working on defence contracts. However, many of its developers did not know this and would be asked to develop systems while unaware they could be used in any military capacity.
In other news, Apex Legends next playable character will be Mad Maggie. First introduced in Season 8 as a nemesis to Fuse, the new Legend was revealed as the next playable character in an animated short, and will join the games when Season 12 begins.
