A red, white and blue VISTA X-62A took Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on a demonstration flight Thursday to demonstrate the potential of future AI-controlled fighter jets.Photo by Richard Gonzalez/U.S. Air Force
May 4 (UPI) — An experimental AI-controlled fighter jet gave Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall a glimpse of the future during a relatively low-speed demonstration flight this week.
Kendall flew an experimental VISTA
The demonstration flight remained at subsonic speeds of about 550 miles per hour while Kendall and the safety pilot took their hands off the aircraft's manual control systems.
“The potential for autonomous air-to-air combat has been imagined for decades,'' Air Force Secretary Sgt. Said“But reality has until now remained a distant dream. This is a transformative moment.”
He said the AI-piloted X-62A conducted an experimental dogfight with a human-piloted F-16 at speeds close to 1,200 miles per hour over the desert near Edwards last year, undermining one of combat aviation's most important barriers. He said he defeated one.
“AI is actually taking the most capable technologies you have, combining them, and using them to solve problems that previously had to be solved by human decision-making,” Kendall said. told The Aviationist. “This is decision automation, and it's very specific.”
The X-62A is an experimental aircraft derived from the F-16 fighter.
Lockheed Martin engineers are developing and using specialized software, including model-following algorithms and simulation technology autonomous control systems, to create the Variable Flight Simulation Test Aircraft (commonly referred to as VISTA).
“VISTA will enable us to parallelize the development and testing of cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies with new unmanned vehicle designs,” said M. Christopher Cotting, director of research at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. ” he said.
