The Air Force is adding AI PILOTS to 6 MORE F-16s!

The U.S. Air Force has announced plans to equip a small group of F-16 Fighting Falcons with artificial intelligence (AI) pilots, as part of a program dubbed Project Viper Experimentation and Next-Gen Operations Mode, or VENOM. This revelation comes just about a month after the branch announced an AI-piloted and heavily modified F-16 known as the X-62A successfully flew a variety of air-combat missions over the span of two weeks this past December.

Project VENOM is the latest development in the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Skyborg autonomous aircraft teaming architecture, which aims to pair crewed fighters with AI-enabled drone wingmen for the 21st-century fight. The Air Force is investing heavily into this concept, with a reported $50 million allocated in its 2024 budget proposal to the VENOM effort alone.

Let’s dive into Project Venom and what it means for the future of air combat…

Note: The first reference to “General Dertien” was cut in the edit. His full name and title are: Maj. Gen. Evan C. Dertien, commander, Air Force Test Center.

This article by Emma Helfrich at the Warzone was my source for many of these quotes: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/six-f-16s-getting-autonomous-computer-brains-for-combat-drone-trials

Make sure to check out Hasard Lee on YouTube here: https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/author/hasard-lee/
And order his new book here:

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Further Reading:
Previous AI F-16 coverage: https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/us-air-force-ai-pilot-flies-real-f-16-in-simulated-dogfights/
NGAD: https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/ngad-fighter/
Block 4 F-35: https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/the-f-35-is-getting-a-15-billion-upgrade-thatll-make-it-a-whole-new-beast/

Citations:
Skyborg: https://afresearchlab.com/technology/vanguards/successstories/skyborg
DARPA AlphaDogFight: https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/ai-wins-flawless-victory-against-human-fighter-pilot-in-darpa-dogfight/
Dr. Coleman quotes: https://www.airmanmagazine.af.mil/Features/Display/Article/3275545/command-interview-af-chief-scientist-dr-victoria-coleman/
MQ-9 Pilot: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a37623821/the-end-of-the-mq-9-reaper/
X-62A VISTA: https://www.edwards.af.mil/Units/X62A-Vista/
X-62A VISTA: https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2023-02-13-VISTA-X-62-Advancing-Autonomy-and-Changing-the-Face-of-Air-Power
DARPA: https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2023-02-13
Artificial Intelligence: https://www.sas.com/en_in/insights/analytics/what-is-artificial-intelligence.html#:~:text=AI%20works%20by%20combining%20large,or%20features%20in%20the%20data.