The U.S. Air Force is betting that artificial intelligence paired with its fleet of F-16 fighters can solve one of modern warfare’s most pressing problems: how to defeat cheap, fast-moving drone swarms that threaten to overwhelm traditional air defenses. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall recently climbed into the cockpit of an AI-controlled F-16 test aircraft for a historic flight, putting his own safety on the line to signal confidence in a technology the Pentagon views as central to its next-generation combat strategy. The flight, and the broader program it represents, points toward a future where aging jets work alongside autonomous wingmen to dominate contested airspace.
The stakes are high because the cost curve of airpower is tilting in favor of adversaries. Small, commercially inspired drones and loitering munitions are proliferating faster than traditional fighter fleets can adapt. For the Air Force, pairing artificial intelligence with a proven airframe offers a way to respond at scale without waiting for entirely new aircraft. By turning F-16s into command hubs for autonomous systems, the service hopes to blunt the swarm threat while preserving the human judgment that underpins U.S. rules of engagement.
Kendall’s AI Flight and What It Proved
The test flight placed Kendall in the rear seat of an F-16 operating under AI control, a scenario that would have seemed far-fetched even a few years ago. The aircraft executed maneuvers autonomously while Kendall observed, making him the most senior Pentagon official to fly in an AI-piloted fighter jet. That a cabinet-level leader was willing to strap into an experimental platform speaks to the degree of institutional trust the Air Force now places in its machine-learning flight systems.
What separated this demonstration from prior AI aviation tests was the explicit connection to combat readiness. The Air Force did not frame the flight as a science experiment or a distant research milestone. Instead, the service treated it as a validation step for technology it intends to field in operational squadrons. By putting Kendall in the jet, the Air Force made a public case that AI-controlled fighters are not theoretical; they are close enough to deployment that the service’s top civilian leader would bet his life on them.
From Legacy Fighter to Drone Swarm Hunter
The F-16, which first entered service in 1978, was designed to win dogfights against other manned aircraft. Its role is now shifting. Conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have demonstrated that inexpensive drones, launched in coordinated swarms, can saturate traditional air defenses and destroy targets that cost orders of magnitude more than the drones themselves. The Air Force’s answer is not to retire the F-16 but to extend its relevance by pairing it with AI systems capable of processing threats faster than any human pilot.
The concept hinges on collaborative combat aircraft, or CCAs, which are autonomous drones designed to fly alongside manned jets. A single F-16 pilot could direct multiple CCAs in real time, using AI to identify, track, and engage drone swarms while the human operator retains authority over lethal decisions. This hybrid approach addresses the speed problem that makes swarms so dangerous: AI can react to dozens of incoming targets simultaneously, while a pilot focuses on tactical priorities and rules of engagement. The result is a force multiplier that turns one aging fighter into a networked kill chain.
Budget Pressures Shape the Strategy
The push toward AI-equipped F-16s and CCAs is driven partly by economics. Next-generation manned fighters like the B-21 Raider and the Next Generation Air Dominance platform carry enormous per-unit costs. Upgrading existing F-16s with AI and pairing them with cheaper autonomous wingmen offers a way to expand combat capacity without waiting years for new airframes to reach production. The Air Force has signaled its intent to acquire a large fleet of CCAs, and budget documents reflect that procurement goals and funding priorities are already taking shape around the program.
This approach also hedges against a strategic risk. If the U.S. invests exclusively in expensive, low-volume platforms, an adversary could overwhelm them with sheer numbers of disposable drones. By fielding large quantities of CCAs alongside upgraded legacy jets, the Air Force creates a force structure that is both expendable at the edges and lethal at its core. Losing an autonomous wingman in combat is a financial setback; losing a crewed next-generation fighter is a strategic one. The math favors building a mixed fleet where AI-driven drones absorb risk that would otherwise fall on pilots.
Why Human-AI Teaming Beats Full Autonomy
A common assumption in defense circles is that fully autonomous combat aircraft will eventually replace manned fighters entirely. The Air Force’s current trajectory suggests a more cautious conclusion. The service is investing in human-AI teaming rather than pure machine autonomy, and the reasons go beyond politics or public comfort. Drone swarms present unpredictable, rapidly shifting threat environments where AI excels at speed but still struggles with the kind of judgment calls that experienced pilots make instinctively, such as distinguishing a decoy from a real threat or deciding when to break off an engagement.
Kendall’s flight reinforced this philosophy. The AI flew the jet, but a human was always in the loop, able to override decisions or redirect the aircraft. The Air Force appears to be building toward a model where AI handles the cognitive overload of tracking dozens of targets while the pilot makes the calls that carry legal and ethical weight. This division of labor could prove more effective than either fully autonomous or fully manned alternatives, particularly in scenarios where adversaries use electronic warfare to disrupt AI decision-making. A pilot who can take manual control when algorithms fail adds a layer of resilience that no software update can replicate.
What This Means for the Air Force’s Future
The AI-controlled F-16 test flight was not a stunt. It was a deliberate signal that the Air Force is moving from research to acquisition on autonomous combat technology. The service now faces the harder challenge of scaling the program: training pilots to work with AI wingmen, building the communications infrastructure to link manned and unmanned aircraft in real time, and establishing rules of engagement for hybrid human-machine combat teams. Each of these steps involves technical, legal, and organizational hurdles that will take years to resolve.
Still, the direction is clear. The Air Force is not waiting for a clean-sheet replacement for the F-16. It is retrofitting the fleet it already has with the technology it needs to fight the wars it expects to face, turning a legacy fighter into the centerpiece of a distributed, AI-enabled air combat network. If the bet pays off, future conflicts may see squadrons of F-16s orchestrating swarms of autonomous aircraft to counter enemy drones, defend critical infrastructure, and project power in contested skies, proof that, with the right software, an aging jet can define the cutting edge of air warfare rather than be left behind by it.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
