The Air Force Test Pilot School campus at Edwards Air Force Base hosted the inaugural X-62 Research Symposium in August. The Air Force said the three-day summit “quickly set the foundation for future research in autonomy-enabled combat aviation.” Briefings came from the Air Force, DARPA, the AFRL, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory and others. Operational aircrew from an Air Combat Command fighter squadron also provided perspectives on bridging pilot trust and machine learning.
The Air Force detailed two accelerated test programmes, HAVE HEAT and HAVE HOLIDAYS, in August, saying they had been conducted on VISTA in April. The wider Mission Systems Upgrade is adding an advanced radar, expanded sensor and computing capacity, and modern network communications.
