DARPA and the U.S. Air Force fly an autonomous F-16 fighter jet for first time

During June, an F-16 fighter jet was flown using full artificial intelligence (AI) autonomy at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. This was the first time this has happened under the VENOM program. DARPA and the U.S. Air Force installed the VAK kit on the jet. It allows the AI system to take over the engine, flight controls and sensors without changing the jet’s existing computer code. A human pilot sits in the cockpit ready to regain manual control if needed by flipping a switch.

The military is moving into the same era of aviation as we are seeing in self-driving cars today. It’s shifting from “assisted” to fully autonomous flight. The next step for the VENOM program will be having multiple AI agents operating jets in a single formation.