An artificial intelligence flew a military plane for 17 hours

An artificial intelligence he flew the trainer aircraft Lockheed Martin VISTA X-62A for over 17 hours. The plane VISTA (which stands for Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft), uses software to simulate the performance characteristics of other aircraft. But in this case, he emulated a human pilot.

Artificial intelligence flies a military aircraft from Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin reports that the flight took place during a trial period in December. This is the first time AI has moved a tactical aircraft, according to the company. This test will be the first of many: the goal is to test aircraft that will be able to fly autonomously.

“VISTA will allow us to parallel the development and testing of cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques with new unmanned vehicle designs,” said US Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) research director Dr. M. Christopher Cotting. “This approach, combined with targeted testing of new vehicle systems as they are produced, will quickly accrue range for unmanned platforms and will enable us to provide tactically relevant capabilities to our fighter jet.”

Lockheed worked with Calspan to build VISTA for the USAF TPS, working directly at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The VISTA program is working on several projects, such as the virtual pop-up display technology and voice command input system for the F-35 Lightning II.

LThe USAF recently upgraded the VISTA X-62A with Lockheed’s Model Following Algorithm (MFA) and System for Autonomous Control of the Simulation (SACS). This allows you to perform advanced flight tests, taking advantage of the device’s great autonomy and artificial intelligence.