Lockheed Martin's famous-yet-secret Skunk Works is conducting live flight tests of its Smart Adaptive Flight Control Environment (SAFE) autonomous AI system on the X-62A. The system can be reconfigured in real time while the X-plane is still in the air.
The US Air Force's X-62A Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft (VISTA) is one of the world's premiere flying test beds for autonomous flight systems It's a modified F-16D Block 30 Peace Marble Il aircraft that has been fitted with Block 40 avionics. Operated by the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, it began life as the NF-16D and was renamed the X-62A in June 2021.
Its purpose is to use the VISTA Simulation System (VSS), developed by Calspan, and Lockheed Martin's Model Following Algorithm (MFA) and System for Autonomous Control of the Simulation (SACS) to provide the fighter aircraft with the ability to carry out complex flight tests of autonomy and AI technologies.
Along with advanced sensors and Getac tablet displays in both the forward and aft sections of the cockpit, the X-62A now has the ability to not only reconfigure itself at the baseline level, but to do so in real time while in flight. As a result, flight testing is vastly sped up because the aircraft can shift to a new iteration without having to land and head back to the hangar.
In addition, SAFE uses AI and machine learning to produce a learn-to-fly capability that, in its latest version, uses online learning to correct control errors. It also has a bolt-on capability that allows the system to be quickly installed in a wide variety of autonomous aircraft.
"The SAFE system has the potential to revolutionize flight tests, operational aircraft performance and safety," said Jeff Hakes, director, Revolutionary Air Vehicles, Emerging Concepts and Technologies, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. "Our work advancing state of the art adaptive technologies continues to evolve and deliver more flexible, capable and collaborative capabilities across current and future platforms."
Source: Lockheed Martin