Not only more offensive and defensive than hackers! Chinese Academy of Sciences Aegis Cup expands AI air combat and national defense science and technology competition

The Chinese Academy of Sciences will hold the "2026 Aegis Cup International Invitational Tournament and Defense AI Competition" from November 7 to 8. This year, it will not only be upgraded to an international invitational tournament for the first time, but also invite top information security teams from the United States, South Korea and other countries to compete in Taiwan. The content of the competition will also extend from traditional information security offense and defense to defense artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Among them, the "AI Air Combat Pilot" attracted 49 teams to sign up, and will conduct real-time air combat confrontations in a simulated flight environment, becoming a highlight of this event.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences stated that this year, teams such as American MMM, Thai Dojo, Malaysian Lv1x, South Korean BoB and international team Water Paddler will be invited to compete with the top 10 in the domestic online qualifying competition and the previous champion B33F 50UP. Some of the invited teams have repeatedly achieved great results in international competitions such as the "World Hacking Competition" (DEF CON CTF). Through the exchange of international experts, they can enhance the practical experience of domestic information security talents.

In addition to hacker attack and defense, defense AI applications are also the focus of this year’s competition. Ten teams were selected for the "AI Competition and Exhibition" and 6 teams entered the finals for the "AI Seminar". Through reports, Q&A and results display, the research and development results of AI technology combined with national defense tasks will be presented. Among them, the "AI Air Combat Pilot" will simulate real-time air combat confrontation of AI in the flight environment and explore the possibility of applying artificial intelligence to future air combat.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences also combines information security education with public experience, launching an escape room game to target new types of information security risks derived from AI agents, and releasing the original characters of "Dr. Bai" and "Ajipa" for the first time to promote the concept of information protection in an interactive way.

In addition, the Chinese Academy of Sciences plans to display quadruped robots, digital warrior exoskeletons, thermal imaging night vision goggles, T112 rifle shooting training simulators, and man-portable stinger missile simulators at the competition site, allowing the public to experience national defense technology equipment at close range.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences said it hopes to promote exchanges between industry, government, academia and research through international competitions, technology exhibitions and expert forums, discover defense AI technology and talents, and accelerate the practical application of artificial intelligence in the national defense field.