For years Artificial Intelligence has been quietly operating in the background, improving the efficiency of different systems or performing complex calculations. For us humans, it has simply been residing in our pockets without us realizing its true capabilities.
From voice assistants to spell checkers, AI has mostly been used for everyday tasks. Nowadays, this technology has leapt into research laboratories, space agencies and even the military transforming the Aerospace sector in every possible way. It has provided new solutions to long-term problems and has shortened operating times by several orders of magnitude.
Science: Going where humans cannot
In December 2025, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory handed over the control of the Mars Perseverance Rover to an AI. Specifically, Anthropic’s AI model was tasked with creating possible routes for the Rover to explore Mars’ Jezero Crater. The AI tool used was Claude, the same model that millions of people use to answer everyday questions, create PowerPoint presentations or even find new recipes.
Claude was given satellite images of the Martian surface and asked to construct a 400-meter drive-path through the rocky surface of the red planet. Only minor adjustments were made, and the plan was sent millions of kilometers away.
According to NASA, the AI model managed to cut planning time by half, meaning that more time and workforce could be spent on the Science and Discovery part of the mission itself.
Defense: A pilot that never blinks
In air-to-air combat, the numbers are unforgiving. A human pilot can react in about 200 milliseconds – approximately the time it takes for one to blink. An AI model, however, can reduce this time to just microseconds – a thousand times faster.
DARPA, the US Department tasked with creating new technologies for National Security, used this opportunity and in September 2023 ran a live test of an AI controlled fighter jet. The X-62A VISTA, a remodeled F-16 fighter jet, engaged a human pilot in an aerial combat situation, known as a dogfight, and managed to perform complicated aerodynamic maneuvers at a combined speed of 1200 mph. The machine first flew defensively, then offensively and not once did it require the safety pilot’s intervention to take back control.
Commercial Aviation: Behind the scenes of every take-off
Aviation, an industry obsessed with safety and efficiency, has taken both to the next level using Artificial Intelligence. Rolls-Royce, in cooperation with Microsoft, has managed to create a system that monitors 10,000+ parameters per aircraft engine in real time.
As such they have succeeded in preventing a large number of unplanned maintenance events, saving millions in repairs while also saving precious time. Alaska Airlines on the other hand managed to save 1.2 million gallons of fuel using an AI model by Flyways AI.
This model associated with flight planning and route optimization, reduced Alaska Airlines’ CO2 emissions by 11,958 megatons, helping the airline get closer to their goal of being the most fuel-efficient airline in the US.
Greece: The Aegean needs smarter skies
Greece has been moving quietly in aerospace, but faster than many realize. In 2023 the Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI) unveiled ARCHYTAS II – an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), domestically produced, as an answer to Turkey’s Bayraktar TB2 drone.
Although the program faced serious setbacks and was almost cancelled, it was redesigned to meet the evolving needs of modern battlefields and remains of interest to the Hellenic Airforce.
This is just one of the example measures Greece has taken to develop and modernize its aerospace defense sector. Others include making a mobile 3D-Printing production line for drones or signing a deal for French built patrol and surveillance drones.
However, there is a gap between building and acquiring drones, and making them smarter. Nations that thrive in the field are not the ones that just expand their arsenal of vehicles, they are the ones that invest in integrating Artificial Intelligence into them.
Greece has the universities, the research capabilities and the operational conditions to develop and integrate AI driven aerospace systems. It just has to take the first step.
George Lazarakos is an IB student at Athens College, with a strong interest in aerospace engineering.
