The DARPA and U.S. Air Power are conducting human-on-the-loop in-air testing of AI-capable F-16s modified with the VENOM Autonomy Package as a part of DARPA’s Synthetic Intelligence Reinforcements program.
Two years after the start of the modifications, the primary U.S. Air Power F-16 outfitted with DARPA’s Viper Experimentation and Subsequent-gen Operations Mannequin (VENOM) Autonomy Package (VAK) has flown. The modified jet will function an autonomous flying testbed with utilizing a man-made intelligence (AI) agent to manage flight.
This system is a joint effort between the U.S. Air Power and DARPA, initiated beneath the Air Fight Evolution (ACE) program and a part of the Synthetic Intelligence Reinforcements (AIR) program. The ACE program additionally beforehand concerned the X-62 Variable In-flight Simulator Plane (VISTA), which proved an AI agent might autonomously pilot a fighter jet in a dogfight.
The way forward for flight is right here.
Try this VENOM-modified F-16. As a part of the Synthetic Intelligence Reinforcements (AIR) program, AI takes the controls to advance fight tech whereas a human pilot stays “on-the-loop.”
📸 U.S. Air Power | Samuel King Jr., 96th Check Wing pic.twitter.com/Y6CxJEBMNl
— DARPA (@DARPA) July 16, 2026
“These groundbreaking flight assessments of VENOM-modified F-16s advance the infrastructure wanted to develop trusted, autonomous air fight capabilities,” mentioned Brig. Gen. James “Fangs” Valpiani, DARPA program supervisor. “The Air Power and DARPA staff has automated flight controls and sensors on an ordinary F-16 with out altering the jet’s core software program. This allows an environment friendly pipeline for creating dominant AI for aerial fight, permitting us to quickly innovate for the warfighter.”
The VAK makes use of a novel interface with the plane’s flight controls and mission methods, permitting a pilot to toggle between conventional human management and AI management with the flip of a swap, defined the press launch. The aim is to make sure a secure, dependable surroundings for human-on-the-loop experimentation.
As a part of the AIR program, the VENOM fleet will likely be used to check a number of AI brokers in live-flight situations, paving the best way for human pilots to seamlessly command and orchestrate groups of autonomous, uncrewed plane, continues the assertion. The teachings discovered may also be used for the together with Collaborative Fight Plane (CCA) program.
“The rising risk surroundings, particularly because it pertains to aerial fight, is rising more and more advanced,” added Valpiani. “AI has great potential to assist people handle this complexity in beyond-visual-range fight, however many arduous questions stay regarding the efficiency and trustworthiness of fight AI within the excessive fog and friction of recent warfare. The AIR program goals to use cutting-edge fight brokers to operationally related situations to deal with these questions and subject war-deterring, war-winning capabilities to our warfighters.”
What’s VENOM
VENOM-AFT, or Viper Experimentation and Subsequent-gen Operations Mannequin – Autonomy Flying Testbed, is a program designed and funded to speed up testing of autonomy software program on crewed and uncrewed plane, complementing the Autonomy Knowledge and AI Experimentation proving floor at Eglin and informing the Collaborative Fight Plane program and different autonomy builders.
“The VENOM program marks a pivotal chapter within the development of aerial fight capabilities. This transformative program holds the potential to redefine air fight paradigms by fostering novel autonomous capabilities for present and future crewed and uncrewed platforms,” mentioned in 2024 Maj. Ross Elder, VENOM developmental take a look at lead. “We sit up for the fruits of years of engineering and collaboration, as VENOM leads a measured step in direction of a brand new age of aviation.”
A complete of six F-16Cs will likely be modified into take a look at platforms to quickly consider autonomous capabilities and bear developmental and operational testing by way of the fortieth Flight Check Squadron and the eighty fifth Check and Analysis Squadron. The plane, nonetheless, won’t be a crewless drone just like the QF-16, as pilots will all the time be within the cockpit to observe the autonomy and guarantee flight and mission methods take a look at goals are met.
“It’s necessary to know the ‘human-on-the-loop’ side of the sort of testing, which means {that a} pilot will likely be concerned within the autonomy in actual time and preserve the power to begin and cease particular algorithms,” mentioned Lt. Col. Joe Gagnon, eighty fifth TES commander when the primary plane arrived at Eglin in 2024. “There’ll by no means be a time the place the VENOM plane will solely ‘fly by itself’ with out a human element.”
The primary three Vipers arrived at Eglin in April 2024 to bear software program, {hardware} and instrumentation modifications that may finally enable the autonomy brokers to fly the plane. These had been adopted by the final plane in April 2025, for a complete of six F-16s.
A bodily change talked about by the service is the inclusion of an auto-throttle, which might enable the autonomy to manage the thrust, whereas the flight management surfaces can be dealt with by the Flight Management System’s laptop. For the software program, the aim is to make sure the VENOM autonomy connects to and communicates with the plane’s system, whereas the aim for the {hardware} is to make sure the autonomy can’t go previous its limits or exceed its flight envelope, thus making certain the security.
The truth is, throughout flight testing a take a look at pilot will likely be on board to supervise the flight with the power to begin and cease the autonomy in actual time. To expedite this system, equally to most F-16 and F-15 testing at Eglin, officers beforehand mentioned the VENOM program will bear simultaneous developmental and operational testing.
