# DARPA/USAF Expanding Autonomous F-16 Flight Program to Multi-Aircraft Operations

> DARPA and the US Air Force are scaling up their VENOM program, moving from flying a single AI-controlled F-16 toward coordinating several autonomous jets at once. In July an AI agent flew a modified F-16 at Eglin Air Force Base with a human pilot on board as a backup, and the plan over the next 12 to 24 months is to push from those baseline single-aircraft runs to multi-ship operations. The data gathered along the way is meant to feed the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft effort, which envisions autonomous drones flying alongside crewed fighters. Getting multiple AI-piloted aircraft to operate together safely is a much harder problem than flying one, involving coordination, deconfliction and trust in the software under real flight conditions. It is a notable marker of how quickly military autonomy is maturing, and it will sharpen the debate over how much control to hand to machines in combat. For now a human remains in the loop, but the direction of travel is unmistakable.

_Section: [Daily AI Updates](https://www.wortins.com/daily-ai) · Source: DARPA · Published Friday, August 28, 2026_

## Wortins' read

DARPA and the US Air Force are scaling up their VENOM program, moving from flying a single AI-controlled F-16 toward coordinating several autonomous jets at once. In July an AI agent flew a modified F-16 at Eglin Air Force Base with a human pilot on board as a backup, and the plan over the next 12 to 24 months is to push from those baseline single-aircraft runs to multi-ship operations. The data gathered along the way is meant to feed the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft effort, which envisions autonomous drones flying alongside crewed fighters. Getting multiple AI-piloted aircraft to operate together safely is a much harder problem than flying one, involving coordination, deconfliction and trust in the software under real flight conditions. It is a notable marker of how quickly military autonomy is maturing, and it will sharpen the debate over how much control to hand to machines in combat. For now a human remains in the loop, but the direction of travel is unmistakable.

## Source

[Read the full story at DARPA](https://www.darpa.mil/news/2026/darpa-us-air-force-fly-ai-controlled-f-16)

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