Air Force equips autonomous combat testbed with advanced sensor as Pentagon accelerates pilotless fighter development
The U.S. Air Force will install advanced radar and sensors on its experimental X-62 fighter jet, a critical testbed for autonomous combat aircraft that demonstrated pilotless dogfighting capabilities last year.
The Pentagon’s Test Resource Management Center is funding the upgrade to equip the X-62 Variable Stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft with Raytheon’s PhantomStrike active electronically scanned array radar, marking a significant expansion of the military’s artificial intelligence testing program.
“The mission systems upgrade enables X-62 to continue the journey in developing breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and autonomy,” said Col. Maryann Karlen, commandant of the Air Force Test Pilot School.
The X-62, assigned to the test pilot school’s research division at Edwards Air Force Base in California, is based on a two-seat F-16D Block 30 fighter previously upgraded with Block 40 avionics from the 1980s. The Air Force describes the orange-and-white jet as the “cornerstone of the air force’s pursuit of artificial intelligence integration in military aviation.”
In 2024, the service and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency used the X-62 to test artificial intelligence software’s ability to autonomously engage in aerial combat maneuvers, including within visual range dogfighting.
The upgrade represents a major win for Raytheon, which has been seeking customers for the PhantomStrike system. The defense manufacturer positions the radar as a low-cost, lightweight multi-function sensor designed for smaller fighters and uncrewed tactical aircraft.
“Autonomous aircraft are poised to play a key role in helping the US maintain air superiority, and Raytheon’s PhantomStrike radar is uniquely designed to help them do it,” said Dan Theisen, president of advanced products and solutions for Raytheon.
The air-cooled PhantomStrike weighs 150 pounds and uses high-efficiency gallium nitride antennas that offer improved power and range over existing gallium arsenide radars. Raytheon says the system costs roughly half that of other active electronically scanned array radars currently available.
The new sensor will allow the Air Force to advance development of artificial intelligence software that will eventually power fleets of autonomous combat jets. The Hivemind AI agent that flew the X-62 during the 2024 dogfighting experiments was developed by Shield AI, which has become a go-to provider of autonomy software for major defense contractors.
Shield AI also develops autonomous aircraft, including the V-Bat unmanned aircraft system that has seen combat service in Ukraine. The company has reportedly been selected by the Air Force to provide autonomy software for the service’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, an uncrewed fighter initiative that first tested software on the X-62.
The Air Force says the planned radar and sensor improvements will allow the X-62 to engage in more complex scenarios, further testing artificial intelligence’s ability to make decisions in real time.
“As the Air Force expands its exploration of integrating autonomy into air and space operations, the X-62 is the bridge between the historical human-centered approach and tomorrow’s integration of uncrewed combat aviation,” Karlen said.
Two autonomous-capable prototype designs are currently in flight testing under the first increment of the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program: the General Atomics YFQ-42A and the Anduril YFQ-44A. The service plans to select one of the designs for procurement around the third quarter of 2026.
Key Takeaways
- The Air Force is upgrading its X-62 test aircraft with Raytheon’s PhantomStrike radar to advance autonomous combat aircraft development following successful 2024 AI dogfighting tests.
- The 150-pound PhantomStrike radar costs roughly half that of competing systems and uses advanced gallium nitride technology for improved performance.
- Shield AI’s Hivemind software, which flew the X-62 in autonomous dogfighting experiments, positions the company as a key autonomy provider for the Air Force’s uncrewed fighter program.
- The service plans to select between two competing autonomous fighter prototypes for procurement in mid-2026 as part of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft initiative.
