Airmen with the 752nd Operations Support Squadron setup the Tactical Operations Center – Light it during exercise Resolute Force Pacific 2025, July 25, 2025. The multi-week exercise, involving more than 12,000 U.S. and coalition personnel and approximately 300 aircraft operating across 50 locations and 3,000 miles in the Indo-Pacific, tested the Air Force’s joint and allied partners ability to rapidly deploy to a dynamic, contested environment. (Courtesy Photo)
The program manager for Tactical Operations Center - Light (TOC-L) and other Air Force officials talked to DefenseScoop about how things played out at the inaugural Resolute…
The Variable In-flight Simulator Aircraft (VISTA) flies in the skies over Edwards Air Force Base, California, shortly after receiving its new paint scheme in early 2019. The aircraft was redesignated from NF-16D to the X-62A, June 14, 2021. F-16 AI agents developed under DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program controlled the X-62A during test flights over Edwards AFB, California, in December 2022. (Air Force photo by Christian Turner)
DARPA's air combat evolution program aims to advance the Pentagon’s autonomous systems capabilities as the U.S. military pursues robotic wingmen and other drones.