First flown in 1992, VISTA could deliberately alter its flight characteristics while airborne, allowing test pilots to experience the handling qualities of aircraft that did not yet exist, or that would be too unstable to fly safely in prototype form. For decades, it has been central to training at the US Air Force Test Pilot School, exposing students to extreme and unconventional flight regimes.

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What makes VISTA unique is its ability to behave like other aircraft while remaining physically an F-16. This capability is built around the VISTA Simulation System, developed by Calspan, combined with Lockheed Martin’s model-following flight control algorithms.

Together, these systems allow the jet’s natural aerodynamics to be overridden in software. Control laws can impose the handling qualities of aircraft that exist only as digital designs, including uncrewed combat air vehicles or deliberately unstable configurations that would never be flown as prototypes.

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These programmes are not aimed at replacing pilots, but at defining how humans and machines fight together. VISTA allows autonomy systems to be tested while simulating the performance of platforms such as the MQ-20 Avenger or future collaborative combat aircraft, exploring how many vehicles a single pilot could realistically command and which decisions should remain human-owned.

edit I think AI is mostly stupid, but this project is fascinating for a variety of reasons!