The VISTA X-62A aircraft was controlled by artificial intelligence on a 17-hour flight.
An artificial intelligence made history by driving a Lockheed Martin company fighter plane by itself .
The AI managed to take off the VISTA X-62A for more than 17 hours in the North American sky.
the feat
The flight is not from now, it is from December, but Lockheed Martin recently made this feat public.
Through software, the AI mimicked the performance characteristics that a human would have in command of the plane, achieving this historic flight.
” VISTA will allow us to parallel the development and testing of cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques with new unmanned vehicle designs,” said Dr. M. Christopher Cotting, director of research at the Air Force Test Pilot School in “This approach, combined with focused testing of new vehicle systems as they are produced, will quickly mature autonomy for unmanned platforms and allow us to bring a tactically relevant capability to our warfighter.”
The VISTA program is not only working with this AI, but is also looking to develop the voice command input system and virtual head-up displays for other aircraft such as the F-35 Lightning II.
The Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft (VISTA) X-62A recently completed a series of flight tests, where the aircraft was flown entirely by AI for an incredible 17+ hours! pic.twitter.com/14nBAWoIep
— Lockheed Martin (@LockheedMartin) February 13, 2023
More tests
At the moment, the plane, a modified F-16D Block 30 Peace Marble II, has different characteristics that they hope to continue polishing so that the aircraft can continue to fly autonomously.
The aircraft is currently undergoing inspection, after which it will resume flight.