An AI flew a fighter jet for 17 hours  

New record for Lockheed Martin

An artificial intelligence managed to fly the Lockheed Martin VISTA X-62A for over 17 hours. This is a trainer fighter and VISTA stands for Variable Inflight Simulation Test Aircraft . The ship’s AI can simulate performance characteristics of ships and in this particular case, it mimicked a human pilot.

This is the first recorded flight of a tactical aircraft by an artificial intelligence, and the aim was to explore the possibility of using the platform to test different aircraft designs that would be able to fly autonomously.

VISTA will allow us to increase the development and testing of the most advanced artificial intelligence techniques with new unmanned vessels. This approach, combined with targeted testing of the vessels as they are produced, will rapidly mature the autonomy of unmanned platforms and allow us to routinely bring relevant capabilities to warships.

The 17-hour AI flights took place in December and have now been made public. The VISTA is a modified F-16D Block 30 Peace Marble II, which has been upgraded with Block 40 avionics.

Lockheed Martin emphasized that VISTA will play a key role in the rapid development of artificial intelligence for the US Air Force, and testing will continue at Edwards Air Force Base throughout 2023.