US Air Force AI Flies F-16 Autonomously

The US Air Force announced on July 16, 2026, that an AI agent assumed full autonomous control of an F-16 fighter jet during portions of a test flight — described as a significant milestone in transferring autonomous control to AI aboard a crewed combat aircraft.

The test is part of the Air Force’s VENOM (Viper Experimentation and Next-gen Operations Model) program, which uses the existing F-16 fleet as a testbed for AI-driven autonomous flight algorithms. A safety pilot remained in the cockpit throughout the flight.

Data gathered from VENOM feeds directly into the autonomous decision-making algorithms used for the uncrewed platforms in the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program.

Source: Army Recognition (Jul 16, 2026, USAF statement).