DARPA AI Flies a Modified F-16D Jet in a Dogfight Versus a Human Piloted F-16

By Brian Wang

DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program had the first-ever in-air tests of AI algorithms autonomously flying a fighter jet against a human-piloted fighter jet in within-visual-range combat scenarios (aka dogfighting). The General Dynamics X-62 VISTA ("Variable Stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft") is an experimental aircraft, derived from the…