EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, California — Following its inaugural X-62 Research Symposium at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, the 412th Test Wing received over 30 flight test proposals for the X-62A Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA) for fiscal years 2027 and 2028, surpassing the initial target of three concept selections.
Concurrently, the Air Force Test Center executed the HAVE HOLIDAYS test series at Edwards Air Force Base in parallel with the HAVE HEAT autonomous infrared intercept campaign. The HAVE HOLIDAYS flight trials evaluated third-party autonomy agents, edge computing hardware, and real-time flight safety guardrails on the X-62A’s Enterprise Open Mission Systems Architecture (E-OMSA). Key evaluations included the integration of IBM’s NorthPole neuromorphic inference chip for in-flight trajectory simulations, non-prime autonomous agents from the AFRL xFACTOR program, and runtime assurance software from 3Laws Robotics.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS: USAF / LOCKHEED MARTIN X-62A VISTA & HAVE HOLIDAYS SUITE 
* Platform Designation & Prime Integrator: X-62A VISTA (Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft) / Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Calspan, and USAF Test Pilot School
* Base Airframe: Modified two-seat F-16D Block 30 Peace Marble II architecture equipped with Variable-stability System (VSS) and digital fly-by-wire controls
* Avionics & Hardware Upgrades (Mission Systems Upgrade – MSU):
* Sponsor: Test Resource Management Center (TRMC)
* Hardware Integration: Advanced radar, enhanced processing nodes, and multi-spectral edge sensors
* Edge Processing Unit: IBM NorthPole low-power neuromorphic computing chip integrated into VISTA onboard computers (HAVE SANTA)
* Simulation Architecture: Lockheed Martin Skunk Works “Supermassive” simulation engine running real-time parallel flight trajectory calculations airborne
* HAVE HOLIDAYS Autonomy & Software Campaign Components:
* HAVE BALLDROP: Integration of non-prime third-party autonomous flight agents drawn from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) xFACTOR program
* HAVE THANKS: Evaluation of “BirdBox,” an open-architecture laboratory software framework for tactical edge target recognition
* HAVE DREIDEL: Operational testing of commercial real-time runtime assurance (RTA) software from 3Laws Robotics, serving as dynamic flight-envelope guardrails
* HAVE SANTA: In-flight environmental testing and trajectory calculation via the IBM NorthPole neuromorphic processor
* Complementary Autonomy Campaigns:
* HAVE HEAT: Autonomous real-time target interception leveraging live data from the Lockheed Martin Legion Pod Infrared Search and Track (IRST) sensor
* Testbed Integration Framework: Operational coordination alongside the VENOM (Viper Experimentation and Next-gen Operations Model) autonomous F-16 fleet at Eglin AFB
