That autonomous fighter jet from DARPA is so 2023 that the agency is already well into a bid to give future combat jets autonomy for multi-ship missions over the horizon.

DARPA's Artificial Intelligence Reinforcements ( [1]AIR ) program aims to take what the agency learned during Air Combat Evolution (ACE) trials, which saw [2]AI-piloted F-16 fighter jets engage in [3]dogfights with human pilots, and turn the autonomy up to 11. DARPA hopes it emerges from the AIR program with more AI-equipped F-16 fighters that are tactically autonomous, making them able to operate in multi-ship configurations beyond visual range.

While not as old as the ACE program, AIR isn't new, with its original solicitation published way back in 2022. Today's news pertains to an $11.3 million contract modification quietly [4]awarded to Systems & Technology Research (STR) on Wednesday for more work on the program. Described as funding for "Option One" of the AIR program in the DoD's contract notification, a DARPA spokesperson told us the award is actually for AIR's second of two phases, meaning that the project is advancing.

[5]

In other words, DARPA has already gone through the initial phases of developing its own [6]Cylon Raider , and STR, at the very least, has done satisfactorily enough to be invited to join phase two of the program, when the participants will narrow from six to four awardees.

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STR, for its part, is working on the second of two technical areas the AIR program is trying to address, namely developing the AI-driven algorithms to "enable real-time distributed autonomous tactical execution within uncertain, dynamic, and complex operational environments," per DARPA. Y'know - like in the air.

The other technical area of the program involves "creating fast and accurate models that capture uncertainty and automatically improve with more data," according to the AIR program page.

[9]

According to the original [10]solicitation , AIR aims to do all that using existing sensor, electronic warfare and weapons technology. Tests will involve simulations, followed by human-on-the-loop evals before eventually moving on to benchmarks of "an uncrewed combat aerial vehicle."

[11]UK's answer to Darpa invests £23.3M in touchy-feely robots

[12]DARPA to 'radically' rev up mathematics research. Yes, with AI

[13]DARPA is testing a device soldiers can swallow to make them less stressed

[14]US Air Force secretary so confident in AI-controlled F-16s, he'll fly in one

[15]Lockheed Martin and [16]BAE Systems have also been tapped to work on the AIR program, but it's not clear if they're being invited to phase 2. DARPA told us source selection for the next part of the program is ongoing and that it couldn't speak about other participants.

Given the secretive nature of the program, it's also not clear what work is happening in phases one or two of the program, which are expected to encompass the entirety of its duration. All DARPA would tell us is that AIR is now transitioning from phase one to two, and that the upcoming phase would last for around 30 months.

After that, it's anyone's guess when we should start counting military fighter pilots among the ranks of the AI dispossessed - or whether we need to start worrying about an autonomous fighter jet becoming a conscientious objector and refusing a bombing run. ®

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[1] https://www.darpa.mil/research/programs/artificial-intelligence-reinforcements

[2] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/14/ai_air_force_f16/

[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/18/darpa_f16_flight/

[4] https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/4274130/#:~:text=Systems%20%26%20Technology%20Research%20LLC

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aJ5ccxQsUo37S8glt1tG7AAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvHQlBdG4Og

[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJ5ccxQsUo37S8glt1tG7AAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aJ5ccxQsUo37S8glt1tG7AAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJ5ccxQsUo37S8glt1tG7AAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[10] https://sam.gov/opp/9a24ddf76d3f4870b4c1906c41827d31/view

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/30/uks_darpa_invests_233_million/

[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/27/darpa_expmath_ai/

[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/11/darpa_developing_ingestible_biotech/

[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/10/usaf_ai_f16_tests/

[15] https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2024-07-08-lockheed-martin-awarded-contract-to-develop-artificial-intelligence-tools-for-darpa

[16] https://www.baesystems.com/en/article/bae-systems-awarded--4-million-from-darpa-for-tactical-autonomy-program

[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/