An artificial intelligence agent recently flew the VISTA X-62A training aircraft for over 17 hours. VISTA (standing for Variable In-Flight Simulation Test Aircraft) can use software to simulate the performance characteristics of other aircraft. On this occasion, it instead mimicked a human pilot.
The flight took place during a test phase in December. According to Lockheed, this is the first time such an engagement has taken place on a tactical aircraft. The aim is to test aircraft concepts on the platform that can be flown autonomously.
“VISTA will allow us to parallel the development and testing of cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques with new unmanned vehicle designs,” said Dr. M. Christopher Cotting, Research Director, US Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS). . “This approach, combined with targeted testing of new vehicle systems during production, will rapidly mature autonomy for unmanned platforms and allow us to add tactically relevant capabilities to our warfighters.”
The USAF recently upgraded the VISTA X-62A with Lockheed’s Model Following Algorithm (MFA) and System for Autonomous Control of the Simulation (SACS). When integrated, these systems help VISTA conduct advanced flight tests that leverage autonomy and AI.
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