Nevada Engineering team earns spot in DARPA Challenge

A Nevada Engineering team has been selected to compete in a national military competition designed to advance heavy-lift drone technology. The DARPA Lift Challenge, Aug. 2-9 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, offers $6.5 million …

Nevada engineering team heads to national DARPA drone challenge

A group of University of Nevada, Reno engineering students is getting ready to put months of work to the test after earning a place in a national competition focused on the future of heavy-lift drone technology. The five-person Nevada Engineering team, …

DARPA Wrote The Pandemic Playbook In 2001 — And It All Starts Inside A Computer

Nearly a decade before the U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched PROPHECY to “predict” the digital genetic sequences of future viruses not known to exist, the agency funded a little-known study asking a far broader …

DARPA Launches $6.5 Million Challenge to Reinvent Heavy-Lift Drones

DARPA challenges innovators to create muscular drones By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill Heavy-lift drones, the workhorses of the drone ecosystem, face a significant obstacle to their widespread adoption for military and commercial uses: their payload …

AI Agent Flies Modified F-16 in DARPA, Air Force VENOM Test

A test pilot stays in the cockpit and can flip between human and AI control with a switch Engineers automated the jet’s controls and sensors without touching its core software The work sets the stage for pilots to command teams of uncrewed aircraft An …

U.S. Air Force and DARPA Successfully Test Autonomous Flight System on Upgraded F-16

DARPA And U.S. Air Force Fly AI-Controlled F-16, Paving Way For Autonomous Air Combat

Key Takeaways: DARPA and the U.S. Air Force have successfully flown an AI-controlled F-16 using the VENOM Autonomy Kit, marking a major step in turning standard fighter jets into autonomous testbeds. The VENOM-modified F-16 allows seamless switching …

DARPA and US Air Force fly F-16 under AI control in VENOM tests

DARPA and the US Air Force have flown a modified F-16 under the control of an artificial intelligence agent, moving autonomous combat testing from a one-off research project to actual modified frontline fighters. The service began flying VENOM-modified …

DARPA and US Air Force fly frontline F-16 modified for autonomous flight

The VENOM jets use an aftermarket kit that allows a pilot to switch between traditional human flight controls and autonomous flight with the flip of a switch.  The secretive Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has collaborated with the US Air …

U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighter Flies Under AI Control as DARPA Expands VENOM Combat Tests

The U.S. Air Force and DARPA have begun flying an F-16 under artificial-intelligence control at Eglin Air Force Base, a test effort DARPA disclosed on July 16, 2026. The VENOM program gives developers a combat-representative platform for testing autonomous …