Lockheed Martin Advances Airborne AI for F-35 Combat ID

Lockheed test-flies F-35 with artificial intelligence to quickly ID unknown contacts - Breaking Defense

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"Project Overwatch" Flight Demonstration

BLUF: Lockheed Martin has successfully flight-tested an internally funded artificial intelligence system — designated Project Overwatch — that generates real-time, independent Combat Identification of radio-frequency emitters directly on the F-35 pilot's display. The demonstration, conducted at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, represents the first in-flight use of a tactical AI model for Combat ID on the F-35 and signals an important near-term pathway for accelerating the jet's electromagnetic spectrum adaptability well ahead of — and potentially complementary to — the delayed Block 4 modernization program.

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AURORA, Colo./WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2026 — Lockheed Martin announced Feb. 23 that it has flight-tested an AI-enhanced Combat Identification capability integrated into the F-35 Lightning II's information fusion system, marking what the company says is the first time a tactical AI model has generated an independent combat identification on a pilot's display during flight. The timing of the announcement — timed to the opening of the Air & Space Forces Association's Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colorado — underscores Lockheed's intent to position the capability as a near-term supplement to a Block 4 modernization program beset by years of delays and over $6 billion in cost overruns.

How Project Overwatch Works

Known as Project Overwatch, the AI is trained to distinguish different types of emissions, autonomously identifying the source for the human pilot. During the Project Overwatch test flight at Nellis Air Force Base, a Lockheed Martin-built and trained AI/machine learning model resolved ID ambiguities among emitters, improving situational awareness and reducing pilot decision-making latency. Engineers then used an automated tool to label new emitters, retrain the AI model to learn the new emitter class within minutes, and reload the updated model for the next flight, all in the same mission planning cycle.

The system runs entirely on the F-35's existing onboard computers, a critical architectural choice that avoids the need for new hardware integration — no trivial matter given the Technical Refresh 3 (TR-3) delays that have plagued Block 4 qualification. The new technology is displayed in the same manner as the current Combat ID system. The work done in Project Overwatch serves to augment the information in the current system, according to Lockheed Martin. After each mission, data is downloaded into the system, processed, and results in enhanced intelligence for the next flight.

Jake Wertz, vice president of F-35 Combat Systems at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, positioned the demonstration in explicit competitive terms: "This is a demonstration of 6th Gen technology brought to a 5th Gen platform. Equally important is our ability to reprogram the AI model on the ground and have those updates available for the next sortie — an essential step toward maintaining a tactical edge in a rapidly evolving threat environment."

Crucially, the program was developed on Lockheed's own initiative using Internal Research and Development (IRAD) funding, rather than for a specific Air Force contract. Sources were unsure how long it would take to adapt the new AI technology from one test flight to operational status and install it on the F-35 fleet; such major technology and operational jumps can take three years or more.

Broader Context: Cognitive EW and the Emitter ID Challenge

Emitter identification — specifically, the rapid, accurate classification of novel or ambiguous radio-frequency signals in a contested environment — has become one of the most pressing problems in modern air warfare. The air defense threat ecosystem is only set to grow more complex, including when it comes to detecting and classifying radiofrequency signal emissions. A radar's basic signature can be changed by operating in different modes and wavelengths. Signal hopping and modulation are tactics that air defenders have been using to get around electronic warfare jamming and other countermeasures for decades, and all of this will only be compounded by the proliferation of AI and machine learning technologies on the adversary side of the air defense equation.

A "holy grail" of cognitive electronic warfare is a system that not only gathers useful information about novel signals and supports rapid reprogramming, but can take that data and autonomously update its capabilities on the fly — theoretically detecting a previously unknown threat emission, analyzing it independently, determining the optimal response in real-time, and then disseminating the updated threat data to other platforms with compatible electronic warfare suites. Project Overwatch represents a meaningful step toward, though not yet a full realization of, that vision. The human pilot retains final identification authority and combat decision-making responsibility.

The MDF Reprogramming Enterprise: Speed as Strategy

The conventional process for updating the F-35's Mission Data Files (MDFs) — the onboard threat libraries and electronic warfare parameters that are, as program officials have described them, "the brains of the airplane" — runs through the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing headquartered at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing reprogram assets across the service covering over 70 platforms and 27 countries, including every F-35 in the world regardless of national operator.

Historically the process was glacial. During the Cold War, signal detection could take weeks to months as the signal had to be sent back to a lab, a fix devised, and then sent back to the field. The 350th was stood up in 2021 specifically to compress that timeline, and its current leadership has stated an explicit goal of three-hour turnaround for priority threats. Col. Larry Fenner, the wing's commander, has stated: "Our goal is to always go faster. It will never be fast enough for me."

Project Overwatch is best understood as a potential complement, not a replacement, for this enterprise. By enabling within-sortie learning and same-cycle model retraining, it could allow air crews to respond to novel emitters encountered in flight without waiting for centralized MDF updates — particularly valuable in high-tempo, contested operations where the 350th's pipeline may be saturated across multiple theaters simultaneously.

Block 4 Context and Competitive Dynamics

Project Overwatch's emergence comes as the F-35's formal Block 4 modernization program continues to struggle. Block 4 costs are over $6 billion more and completion is at least five years later than original estimates. The program plans to reduce the scope of Block 4 to deliver capabilities at a more predictable pace than in the past. F-35 Block 4 upgrades began in 2018 with an aggressive plan to deliver 66 capabilities by 2026; that moved to 2029, and now the earliest realistic completion sits around 2031 as the program trims scope.

All variants of the Joint Strike Fighter are already set to receive a new electronic warfare suite as part of the Block 4 upgrade package, which the U.S. Air Force has previously described as a top priority. However, the Block 4 modernization effort has also been beset by delays and cost growth, and it remains to be seen what form it might take in the end.

Against this backdrop, Lockheed's IRAD investment in Project Overwatch serves a dual strategic purpose: demonstrating continued innovation on the platform while it waits for formal government modernization funding to materialize. Lockheed Martin is self-funding prototype fighters and integrating sixth-generation technologies into the F-35 and F-22, a pivot CEO Jim Taiclet described as a "home-run" approach to independent R&D, following the firm's NGAD setback. Boeing was selected for the NGAD program — now designated the F-47 — leaving Lockheed without a sixth-generation fighter contract and with heightened incentive to keep the F-35 as technologically competitive as possible.

AI Certification and Operational Integration: Open Questions

Independent analysts have noted that integrating machine learning models into safety-critical and mission-critical systems raises questions about testing rigor, model explainability, cybersecurity resilience, and rules of engagement. Integrating machine learning into safety-critical and mission-critical systems raises questions around testing rigor, explainability, cybersecurity resilience, and rules of engagement — particularly when AI contributes to threat identification.

The Israel Defense Forces' experience is instructive here. Israeli defense officials have noted that while AI has been integrated into target identification and prioritization processes since at least 2019 — with significant evolution during subsequent operations — final decision-making authority has remained with human officials, a model that appears consistent with how Lockheed is positioning Project Overwatch. The system augments but does not replace the pilot's judgment.

The path from successful IRAD flight test to program-of-record integration involves formal operational testing, airworthiness certification, cybersecurity assessment, and JPO approval — all of which could extend that three-year-plus timeline for fleet-wide fielding. How the Air Force ultimately chooses to certify and mandate an AI-generated Combat ID, and whether it will accept Lockheed's proprietary training methodology without independent validation, remains an open programmatic question.

Fleet Scale and International Implications

The stakes are substantial. With 12 nations operating the F-35 across a global fleet of more than 1,300 aircraft, Lockheed Martin is positioned to keep the fleet at the cutting edge of technology and support allies as they expand their capabilities worldwide. Any AI-enabled Combat ID feature would require coordination with allied operators and their national security and classification frameworks — a non-trivial multinational governance challenge — as well as alignment with the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing's coalition reprogramming responsibilities.

Lockheed said Project Overwatch flight test results "will inform future development and potential integration pathways," language that leaves open whether and how the technology will enter the formal F-35 upgrade pipeline. The company separately cited its use of similar AI-assisted software updating approaches for the Aegis combat system on U.S. Navy ships operating in the Red Sea, suggesting it views this as a platform-agnostic, scalable modernization methodology.

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Verified Sources and Formal Citations

1. Lockheed Martin official press release, Feb. 23, 2026, "Lockheed Martin Applying AI to Enhance F-35 Combat Identification System." https://www.f35.com/f35/news-and-features/Lockheed_Martin_Applying_AI_to_Enhance_F35_Combat_Identification_System.html

2. Freedberg, Sydney J. Jr., Breaking Defense, Feb. 23, 2026, "Lockheed test-flies F-35 with artificial intelligence to quickly ID unknown contacts." https://breakingdefense.com/2026/02/lockheed-test-flies-f-35-with-artificial-intelligence-to-quickly-id-unknown-contacts/

3. Trevithick, Joseph, The War Zone (TWZ), Feb. 24, 2026, "AI Is Now Helping The F-35 Spot Enemy Air Defenses." https://www.twz.com/air/ai-is-now-helping-the-f-35-spot-enemy-air-defenses

4. Cenciotti, David, The Aviationist, Feb. 24, 2026, "F-35 Tested with AI-Enhanced Combat Identification Capability." https://theaviationist.com/2026/02/24/f-35-ai-combat-id/

5. Space and Defense, Feb. 24, 2026, "Lockheed Martin Applying AI to Enhance F-35 Combat Identification System." https://spaceanddefense.io/lockheed-martin-applying-ai-to-enhance-f-35-combat-identification-system/

6. Losey, Stephen, Defense News, Mar. 4, 2025, "F-35s to get new capabilities with summer software update." https://www.defensenews.com/air/2025/03/04/f-35s-to-get-new-capabilities-with-summer-software-update/

7. Tirpak, John A., Air & Space Forces Magazine, Mar. 10, 2025, "First F-35 Block 4 Updates Start to Roll Out, Block 5 List Taking Shape." https://www.airandspaceforces.com/first-f-35-block-4-updates-block-5/

8. The Defense Post, Sept. 5, 2025, "Pentagon's F-35 Block 4 Modernization Pushed to 2031 Amid Rising Costs, Oversight Changes." https://thedefensepost.com/2025/09/05/pentagons-f35-modernization/

9. Hitchens, Theresa, Breaking Defense, Sept. 24, 2025, "As EW proliferates, Air Force Spectrum Warfare Wing speeds organic waveform development." https://breakingdefense.com/2025/09/as-ew-proliferates-air-force-spectrum-warfare-wing-speeds-organic-waveform-development/

10. Keller, Jared, Air & Space Forces Magazine, Dec. 12, 2024, "Spectrum Warfare Wing Boss Hunting for Reprogramming Tools." https://www.airandspaceforces.com/spectrum-warfare-wing-boss-reprogram-f-35s/

11. Lawrence, Drew F., DefenseScoop, Apr. 22, 2025, "Air Force activates new electronic warfare squadron." https://defensescoop.com/2025/04/22/air-force-activates-electronic-warfare-squadron-23d/

12. Army Recognition, Oct. 21, 2025, "US Lockheed Martin Quietly Builds Sixth-Gen Prototypes as F-35 and F-22 Enter New Phase." https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/aerospace-news/2025/us-lockheed-martin-quietly-builds-sixth-gen-prototypes-as-f-35-and-f-22-enter-new-phase

13. Jerusalem Post, Feb. 24, 2026, "Lockheed Martin successfully tests AI-powered combat target identification system on F-35." https://www.jpost.com/defense-and-tech/article-887732

14. 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing, Wikipedia, accessed Feb. 24, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/350th_Spectrum_Warfare_Wing

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This article was prepared by Claude (Anthropic) based on open-source reporting, official government releases, and industry analysis. It does not draw on classified information.