There are at least 12 AI agents currently being tested at Edwards Air Force Base, Brig. Gen. Doug Wickert, commander of the 412th Test Wing, said during a Dec. 5 briefing with reporters. The autonomous pilots were developed by a range of companies as part of the ongoing Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program, as well as other complementary efforts.

The autonomous agents won’t directly be used in the Air Force’s future programs, but instead are being leveraged to understand how the service will test and train AI in the future, Wickert said. The current testing will feed into how the service will put through trials the first batch of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), which are expected to arrive at the base after General Atomics and Anduril conduct first flights of their prototypes in 2025, he added.

In order to increase trust in artificial intelligence, integrating the technology onto CCA drones will be an “iterative process” featuring “varying levels of autonomy,” he said.

Edwards has been at the forefront of the Air Force’s efforts to develop and experiment with new technologies, including autonomous flight. The base is also the home of the X-62A VISTA (Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft) platform, a modified F-16 Fighting Falcon operated by the Air Force’s Test Pilot School and used for both student curriculum and autonomous flight research.

While capabilities enabled by AI have shown promise for future warfare, Wickert said there’s still much to be learned. There are currently “gaps” in the Air Force’s ability to test in digital environments and the real world, and AI can sometimes do “unexpected things” during live experiments, he noted.

Wickert also pushed back on recent comments from billionaire and tech titan Elon Musk that claim manned aircraft are both antiquated and overpriced in comparison to drones and other lower-cost platforms. An influential advisor to President-elect Donald Trump, Musk has been tapped alongside Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the proposed “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) aimed at restructuring the federal government and reducing wasteful spending.

“There may be someday we can completely rely on robotized warfare,” Wickert said, but projected that would likely be “centuries away” due to the growing complexity of modern combat and a slew of ethical considerations that come with using AI for military operations.

Artificial intelligence is optimal for the military’s current data fusion and situational awareness missions, according to Wickert. Moving forward, the Pentagon will need to have more trust in autonomy that will allow officials to turn towards AI-enabled solutions in the future, he said.

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Air Combat Evolution program has been using the X-62A VISTA (Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft) to put machine learning agents through their paces in the skies above Edwards Air Force Base, California. A total of 21 test flights were conducted for the project between December 2022 and September 2023.

Last week, Kendall traveled to Edwards and flew aboard the VISTA to witness within-visual-range engagements between the automated platform and an F-16 operated by an experienced Air Force pilot. Live rounds weren’t fired in the simulated combat, and there was a human pilot in the X-62 who could take control if things went wrong with the technology.

“What we did was we went up and did a number of test points to test out multiple versions of what we call agents that would take control of the airplane and conduct the maneuvering and put us in a position … to automate the engagement that might occur with either a short-range missile or the guns on the aircraft. So we did about 10 or a dozen different situations where … I was in the front seat and I had a button on my stick where basically I initiated the automation,” he said Wednesday at an AI expo event hosted by the Special Competitive Studies Project in Washington, D.C.

“Basically, when you’re in an engagement like that, what the two pilots are trying to do to gain an advantage is fly the most optimal possible trajectory for their aircraft … so you can get a missile off, and he’s trying to do the same to you. So the skill of the pilots is really important. We were up against a pilot who had two or three thousand hours of experience. He was very good. It was roughly an even fight. But against a less experienced pilot the AI … [and] the automation would have performed better,” Kendall said.

The Air Force secretary is bullish about AI agent-enabled fighter jets.

“That technology is not quite ready yet, but it’s making very good progress. We got to see three different versions of it. They all performed, I think, in a way which suggests to me personally very strongly that we’re on the right path and we’re gonna get to where we’re headed,” Kendall said.

The Air Force is pursuing next-generation drones known as collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) enabled by artificial intelligence. The service recently selected Anduril and General Atomics to create detailed designs, do manufacturing and conduct flight tests as part of the next phase of the program.

At the AI expo, Kendall noted that the dogfights with the VISTA were within-visual-range engagements. Although CCAs could do close-in battle, they are more oriented toward longer-range attacks that would use sensors and far-reaching weapons to target enemy aircraft.

“This is the path of the future,” he said. “That’s where we’re going.”

As the technology matures, robo-jets are expected to offer major advantages.

“They don’t get tired, they don’t get scared, they’re relentless. It’s easy to see a situation where they’re gonna be able to do this job … better than humans can do,” Kendall said.

The systems are expected to be superior to airmen when it comes to handling large amounts of data.

“When you get into a complex tactical situation, you get overloaded with the amount of input you’re getting and you’re trying to sort through and decide what to do. You simplify your decision-making process down to the things you need to handle and the basic skills that you have to simplify the problem for yourself. Our computers are not going to have to do that. They’re going to be able to handle that … level of complexity much better than a human can. There are just inherent limitations of human beings. And when we can build machines that can do these jobs better than people can do them, the machines are going to do the job,” Kendall said.

He noted that the Pentagon will need to make sure the AI-enabled systems are programmed with operational constraints.

“The United States is going to comply with the rules of armed conflict. We’re going to find ways to make sure that we do use our systems in ways that are acceptable, and we don’t have any more than necessary collateral damage. We won’t always be perfect about that, but we’re gonna work really hard at it,” he said.

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The ACE project aims to advance the Pentagon’s autonomous systems capabilities as the U.S. military pursues robotic wingmen and other drones. Industry participants for the recent tests included EpiSci, PhysicsAI, Shield AI and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, which put their algorithms through their paces.

“In early December 2022, ACE algorithm developers uploaded their AI software into a specially modified F-16 test aircraft known as the X-62A or VISTA (Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft), at the Air Force Test Pilot School (TPS) at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and flew multiple flights over several days. The flights demonstrated that AI agents can control a full-scale fighter jet and provided invaluable live-flight data,” DARPA said in a press release Monday.

“We conducted multiple sorties [takeoffs and landings] with numerous test points performed on each sortie to test the algorithms under varying starting conditions, against various simulated adversaries, and with simulated weapons capabilities,” ACE program manager Lt. Col. Ryan “Hal” Hefron said in a statement.

“We didn’t run into any major issues but did encounter some differences compared to simulation-based results, which is to be expected when transitioning from virtual to live. This highlights the importance of not only flight testing advanced autonomous capabilities but doing so on testbeds like VISTA, which allowed us to rapidly learn lessons and iterate at a much faster rate than with other air vehicles,” he added.

AI agents had previously defeated a human F-16 pilot during a series of simulations that were part of DARPA’s AlphaDogTrials.

DARPA did not disclose any additional information about the different results that were found in the recent flight tests compared to previous simulations.

The agency noted that a human pilot was onboard the two-seat aircraft to take over if anything went awry while the AI agents were in control during the test flights.

Although the X-62A is a modified F-16, it can also be programmed to demonstrate the flight-handling characteristics of a variety of different aircraft types. And the VISTA will support a variety of programs, according to officials.

The platform was recently upgraded with what officials are calling a System for Autonomous Control of Simulation (SACS).

“What we’ve done with investments from DARPA, with investments from the [Air Force] Research Lab is put it an autonomy core kind of brain on there. That’s going to allow us to actually go fly autonomy [technology] and have a person still in the aircraft to intervene if we need to,” Maj. Gen. Evan Dertien, commander of the Air Force Test Center, told reporters during a media roundtable in September at AFA’s Air, Space and Cyber conference.

The VISTA is going to be very busy with flight testing, he noted.

“The X-62 is booked solid. We have a roadmap for the next probably two or three years of all the different programs it will support. We’re also looking at efforts to try to figure out how we would actually bring up more aircraft and get autonomy engines on to accelerate this. But as far as what we’ll continue to do — that that will probably evolve based on the data of what we do. But I think increasing capacity right now is one of our [desired] things,” he said.

“Eventually, hopefully, we can get some other aircraft modified with the autonomy core engine and start accelerating the pace of testing, look at teaming tactics, and get two ships and three ships and things like that going,” he added.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has said that previous progress with the ACE initiative contributed to his decision to move forward with a “collaborative combat aircraft” program. That drone project is expected to receive significant funding in the fiscal 2024 budget, although Kendall has suggested that many aspects of the program will be classified.

“We’re heading down the path to have much more capability for uncrewed aircraft,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown said Monday at a Brookings Institution event. “When you look at one of our operational imperatives — next-generation air dominance family of systems — we’re going down the path of collaborative combat aircraft.”

Officials envision teaming those next-gen drones with manned platforms such as the F-35 and a forthcoming NGAD fighter.

“As we look into our future budgets there’s three aspects of this. There’s the platform itself, there’s the autonomy that goes with it, and then there’s how we organize, train and equip to build the organizations to go [use that technology]. And we’re trying to do all those in parallel. So we are thinking through aspects” of that, Brown said. “I think you’ll see as we start looking at our future budgets and the analysis we’re doing as part of our operational imperatives that we are committed to more uncrewed capability.”

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The X-62 VISTA is a “highly modified” F-16 fighter jet, Maj. Gen. Evan Dertien, commander of the Air Force Test Center, told reporters during a media roundtable at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space and. Cyber conference. It has previously been used to train pilots to operate various types of aircraft.

“What we’ve done with investments from DARPA, with investments from the [Air Force] Research Lab is put it an autonomy core kind of brain on there. That’s going to allow us to actually go fly autonomy [technology] and have a person still in the aircraft to intervene if we need to,” he said.

The X-62 can simulate a variety of aircraft due to its variable stability, including a slow autonomous vehicle or a high-performance fighter, he noted.

“Having an autonomy engine on there will help us start with our risk reduction. So that aircraft just went through a major modification. It’s out, it’s flying. We’ll do some stability stuff here in the fall. And then as we go into the winter, we’re taking the DARPA experiment with the Alpha Dogfight [Trials] and the [Air Combat Evolution] different experiments — and we’ll take that software and actually put it on the aircraft and start developing autonomy there,” Dertien said.

Data from the experiments will be sent back to AFRL and industry partners that are working on mature the technology.

The X-62 is going to be very busy with testing, according to Dertien.

“The X-62 is booked book solid. We have a roadmap for the next probably two or three years of all the different programs it will support. We’re also looking at efforts to try to figure out how we would actually bring up more aircraft and get autonomy engines on to accelerate this. But as far as what we’ll continue to do — that that will probably evolve based on the data of what we do. But I think increasing capacity right now is one of our [desired] things.”

Adding additional platforms into the mix will help the test center.

“Eventually, hopefully, we can get some other aircraft modified with the autonomy core engine and start accelerating the pace of testing, look at teaming tactics, and get two ships and three ships and things like that going,” Dertien said.

The airspace at the Air Force Test Center can serve as a sandbox for technologies developed by the Air Force Research Lab and its partners.

AFRL has been working on a platform-agnostic “autonomy core” system for drones as part of its Skyborg program, which is expected to inform the service’s future collaborative combat aircraft program. The technology has already been put through its paces on other experimental aircraft.

“From a software standpoint, and what we’re looking at … with the Skyborg autonomy core system being platform agnostic, we’re trying to have it do some of the very basic things that aircraft do, right — aviate, navigate, communicate, and what are those parameters? But then how do we make it more specific for the platform that it’s operating on? So, what are the specific apps, if you will, that plug in, if it’s a fighter type, or what app, you know, that will be uniquely developed if we put the autonomy core system on a different type aircraft?” AFRL Commander Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle said during the roundtable.

When asked later by DefenseScoop if the Air Force had decided which platform would be the next to receive the autonomy core system, Pringle declined to identify candidates that are being considered.

“Right now, we’re just trying to make it platform agnostic so we can develop the different apps. So we’re still working through all of those,” she said.

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