Fighter Completes 27 Live Intercepts via Jamming-Immune Infrared Sensor

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School say an autonomous AI agent completed 27 tactical intercepts in a live test using only real-time classified infrared sensor data under the program “Have Heat.” The AI operated on a live feed from the Legion Pod’s passive IRST21 infrared sensor, without synthetic data injection and without radar, and piloted the X-62A VISTA into intercept positions against a real airborne target across eight flights. The milestone is tied to the sensor choice: infrared is passive, emits no radio-frequency energy, and is not vulnerable to radar jamming. Lt. Col. Joshua Strafaccia said the effort addresses an autonomy gap in radio-frequency-denied environments.