Will artificial intelligence make fighter pilots redundant? For now the evidence points to a different job rather than an empty cockpit. The uncrewed aircraft now entering production are built to fly alongside crewed fighters1 and the F-47, F/A-XX and GCAP fighters are all planned with a pilot aboard234. What has changed quickly is what those pilots are being asked to do.

What has actually flown

The famous result is from 2020, when Heron Systems' AI beat an Air National Guard F-16 pilot 5-0 in DARPA's AlphaDogfight Trials5. It was a simulation using guns only, against software not bound by the safety rules that apply to human pilots5. DARPA's Col. Daniel Javorsek said at the time that even a perfect system would take about 10 years to reach a combat jet, most likely in an unmanned system5.

Live flying followed. In 2023 AI agents flew the X-62A VISTA, a modified F-16, against a human-piloted F-16 in within-visual-range scenarios6. During the 21 flights before the dogfight phase, two pilots sat in the VISTA and according to programme manager Lt. Col. Ryan Hefron never had to take control from the AI. The outcome of those dogfights is classified7. Saab's own AI agents have since controlled a Gripen E in beyond-visual-range flight trials.

On Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), the US Air Force awarded production contracts in June and says it can buy more than 150 by the end of the decade1. It said in July that a YFQ-44A had fired an AIM-120 at a digital target over the Mojave Desert8. Testing of how pilots command them continues. An F-22 pilot has directed a single YFQ-44A from the cockpit9. General Atomics said in late May that an F-35 pilot had used a tablet to send tactical commands to an airborne MQ-20 Avenger test aircraft, although the F-35 stayed on the ground10. Our earlier piece on uncrewed wingmen covers the programme in more detail.

What is still a plan

None of the new crewed fighters is in service yet. Boeing's F-47 is still targeted for a first flight in 2028 with service entry in the early 2030s11. Gen. David Allvin, then US Air Force Chief of Staff, called it the world's first crewed sixth-generation fighter2 and the aircraft is expected to control CCAs11. The US Navy gave Boeing the F/A-XX contract on 29 September12. The Aviationist quotes Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly as saying the aircraft "is intended to be a manned platform" and a pivot to a mixed crewed and uncrewed air wing3. Edgewing, the industrial partner in the Global Combat Air Programme of Britain, Italy and Japan, describes a crewed aircraft aimed at service in 20354.

Elsewhere the picture is less tidy. Reports from Reuters, the Financial Times and Der Spiegel said France and Germany agreed in June to end the FCAS fighter, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz proposed continuing work on the combat cloud. The future of the drones is unclear13. In China, the tailless aircraft dubbed the J-36 has been seen flying since December 2024 and official video has shown it this year, but its role remains a matter of analysis rather than announcement14.

Who decides to fire

For CCA, the US Air Force is explicit: "CCA will not autonomously employ weapons" and the decision to release a weapon stays with a human operator. The same release says CCA can carry out the weapon employment sequence autonomously within parameters set by the pilot8. Wider US policy is looser. DoD Directive 3000.09 requires "appropriate levels of human judgment over the use of force", which the Congressional Research Service says does not mean manual human control of the weapon. US policy does not prohibit lethal autonomous weapons15. So the CCA rule goes further than the wider policy requires.

How the job changes

One early indication comes from a US Navy simulation in which F-35 pilots controlled multiple CCAs through tablet interfaces, which the Navy says lets pilots focus on command and decision-making16. The Netherlands has agreed to fund two CCAs assigned to the US Air Force's Experimental Operations Unit at Nellis, where Dutch airmen will learn to operate them17.

How pilot selection might change has yet to become clear. For now, the route to a fighter cockpit still runs through air force selection and military flight training, while teaming with uncrewed aircraft is being tested for the future. Candidates can practise pilot aptitude tests before applying.