The PhantomStrike AESA radar will probably be built-in on the U.S. Air Power’s X-62 VISTA as a part of the lately introduced Mission Techniques Improve to develop autonomy testing.
The U.S. Air Power’s X-62 Variable Stability In-Flight Simulator Check Plane (VISTA) will obtain Raytheon’s PhantomStrike AESA (Energetic Electronically Scanned Array) radar as part of its Mission Techniques Improve (MSU), introduced RTX on Dec. 19, 2025. We lately reported right here at The Aviationist concerning the MSU, a part of a strategic funding from the Check Useful resource Administration Middle (TRMC) meant to develop autonomy testing in additional complicated situations.
The X-62 is assigned to the U.S. Air Power Check Pilot College (TPS), a part of the 412th Check Wing at Edwards Air Power Base, California. It has to this point been efficiently piloted by Synthetic Intelligence (AI) brokers of the Air Power Analysis Laboratory’s (AFRL) Autonomous Air Fight Operations (AACO) and DARPA’s Air Fight Evolution (ACE) in Past Visible Vary (BVR) and Inside Visible Vary (WVR) situations, respectively, in 12 flights performed between Dec. 1 and 16, 2022.
The MSU improve is anticipated to tell and agency up autonomous air fight doctrine, expertise and ways, concurrently being examined by business and Air Power joint packages. These embrace the YFQ-44A, YFQ-42A and XQ-58A Collaborative Fight Plane, pairing checks of the F-22 Raptor with GA-ASI’s MQ-20 Avenger, in addition to the GA-ASI XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS).
📰 The @usairforce has awarded Raytheon a contract to equip the autonomous X-62A Variable In-flight Simulation Check Plane with a PhantomStrike radar. Extra:
📸: U.S. Air Power pic.twitter.com/t7DMYgegXt
— RTX (@RTX_News) December 19, 2025
Raytheon’ PhantomStrike Radar
Raytheon introduced on Dec. 19 the award of an U.S. Air Power contract “to equip the autonomous X-62A VISTA with a PhantomStrike radar.” The corporate stated “PhantomStrike delivers highly effective radar functionality making certain superior battlespace consciousness.”
Furthermore, Raytheon describes the PhantomStrike as a first-of-its-kind “smaller, lighter […] air-cooled and compact fire-control radar” with decreased energy necessities than present typical AESA radars. “It’s designed for a variety of platforms, together with uncrewed aerial automobiles, light-attack plane, and rotary-wing plane,” RTX stated within the press launch.
The press launch additionally touched upon the radar’s options like “digital beam forming, steering, multimode performance and interleaved floor and air focusing on,” which allow it to ship “superior radar functionality at practically half the price of typical fireplace management radars.”
📰 #NEWS: Raytheon delivers the primary PhantomStrike radar for Korea Aerospace Industries’ FA-50 fleet. At practically half the price of a typical fireplace management radar, the next-generation radar gives superior battlespace situational consciousness. Extra: pic.twitter.com/9CKvBCzy8c
— RTX (@RTX_News) October 21, 2025
Raytheon’s president of superior merchandise and options Dan Theisen famous PhantomStrike’s function within the U.S. Air Power’s air dominance targets with uncrewed aerial methods. “Autonomous plane are poised to play a key function in serving to the U.S. preserve air superiority, and Raytheon’s PhantomStrike radar is uniquely designed to assist them do it. This radar is revolutionary in its use of Gallium Nitride (GaN), fully air-cooled expertise, and innovation in how we manufacture it – at a decrease price than different modern-day radars,” Theisen stated.
Radar transceivers made with GaN supplies, now adopted in radar and digital warfare methods of many nations, are extra delicate and highly effective, and have additionally been stated to contribute in monitoring stealth plane.
As now we have beforehand reported, steps for upgrading the X-62 VISTA to incorporate extra refined autonomous air fight expertise had been mirrored in an August 2024 Request for Info (RFI). Looking for a possible radar improve on the X-62, the long run radar was particularly described as “a part of a set of modular parts that can be utilized individually or collectively to supply sensory enter to plane.”
NEWS: X-62 VISTA to obtain radar and sensor capabilities via an funding by the Check Useful resource Administration Middle.
Enhancements will push X-62 to guage extra complicated #AI and #autonomy situations with the #USAF Check Pilot College. @HQ_AFMC
Extra- pic.twitter.com/A331fXATXy
— Edwards Air Power Base (@EdwardsAFB) December 18, 2025
The RFI additionally stipulated that the AI brokers ought to have the ability to autonomously management and use the radar. “The plane will probably be able to processing uncooked information from the AESA radar in an autonomy enclave that may use machine studying to course of the information and instantly management the sensors utilizing both the prevailing modes accessible through the radar OFP or through experimental modes and experimental combos of modes inaccessible or unachievable by human use,” talked about the RFI.
Among the many necessities, air cooling, a weight lower than 200 lb, AESA expertise “that may be operated in an unclassified mode,” air-to-air and air-to-ground modes and startup time lower than 2 minutes, because the bodily and efficiency necessities for the radar had been additionally famous. In Could 2025, the service hosted an business day centered on the MSU.
X-62 VISTA
RTX’s press launch described the VISTA as a modified F-16D Block 30 take a look at plane upgraded with Block 40 avionics, a hybrid used as a take a look at mattress built-in with machine studying and specialised software program. It flew for the primary time with the brand new configuration in 1992, turning into an vital a part of the Check Pilot College curriculum.
The plane’s present VISTA Simulation System was totally changed with a brand new System for Autonomous Management of Simulation (SACS) to assist autonomy testing, prompting the redesignation as an X-plane. The plane nonetheless retained its central management stick related to the simulation system, along with the F-16’s peculiar aspect stick.
Following the improve, it was redesignated because the X-62A in 2021 for participation within the AFRL’s Skyborg autonomous flight checks, with the X denoting its experimental standing.
Then, in the course of the 12 flights between Dec. 1 and 16, 2022, AFRL’s AACO and DARPA’s ACE brokers, as we talked about earlier, performed BVR and WVR, respectively, towards constructive AI red-team brokers. AACO and ACE executed autonomous tactical maneuvering whereas sustaining real-world airspace boundaries, defined the service.
A take a look at in 2023 noticed the X-62 VISTA efficiently flown by an Synthetic Intelligence agent throughout a simulated dogfight towards a human-piloted F-16. For security functions, the X-62A is flown with take a look at pilots onboard with the impartial capacity to disengage the AI agent.
The addition of the PhantomStrike will enable seeing each whether or not the AI brokers can establish/discriminate potential threats upon detection (off-board sensing) and the way they maneuver and reply with simulated air-to-air missile fireplace (off-board weapons launch). Air Power, AFRL and DARPA testers can then use Machine Studying (ML) to coach and refine their motion.
Future
Concerning the broader MSU program, the 412th Check Wing at Edwards AFB stated that the “superior radar and sensors for advance testing” mark its journey “because it continues to collaborate throughout authorities and business on take a look at tasks” via the Check Pilot’s College Curriculum.
Whereas the X-62 VISTA has been trialing refined autonomous fight expertise for some time, the MSU improve comes within the backdrop of different autonomous aerial automobiles just like the Turkish Kizilelma and Australian MQ-28A Ghost Bat live-fire missile checks with the usage of each on-board and off-board sensors.
