Skunk Works Tests Missile-Evading AI On X-62A

AURORA, Colorado—Lockheed Martin in a recent test showed its autonomy software’s ability to take control of a fighter jet and evade a simulated incoming missile—the first time the company tried out tactical AI on its X-62A F-16 testbed.

O.J. Sanchez, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works division, outlined the recent test to reporters ahead of the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air Warfare Symposium here Feb. 23. The effort, named “Have Remy,” occurred late last year at Edwards AFB, California, where the Air Force Test Pilot School flies the Lockheed and Calspan X-62 VISTA test aircraft.

During the test, the X-62 sensed a simulated incoming surface-to-air missile launch and Lockheed’s AI system executed “appropriate maneuvers” to defend the aircraft without the pilot intervening, Sanchez says. Leading to the test, the AI was trained with “billions of simulated missions using Skunk Works’ Supermassive simulation engine,” the company says.

The AI system took over the aircraft’s controls, conducting defensive maneuvers—pulling just less than 6g and did not go lower than .8 Mach, Sanchez says.

Have Remy was an initial test, and Lockheed Martin plans to use it as a springboard into other tests, including using more sensors on the aircraft, Sanchez says. The test was named by the pilots involved, a reference to the Disney movie “Ratatouille,” in which the cartoon rat named Remy controls a human chef.