It’s training season, baby. This morning, augmented reality flight training company Red 6 announced that they’ve scored a contract with the US Air Force to integrate their ATARS (Airborne Tactical Augmented Reality System) into the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
That means that fighter jet pilots will now be able to simulate real-world engagements—like dogfights—using augmented reality (AR), directly from the cockpit.
“ATARS is the only system capable of replicating the cognitive complexity fighter pilots face in real-world engagements — and now we’re delivering it in the cockpit of a frontline tactical jet,” Red 6 Co-Founder and CEO Daniel Robinson said in a statement. “The F-16 is just the beginning.”
That sounds like our idea of fun, Mav. You didn’t think we’d make it through this without making a Top Gun joke, did you?
Train up: In case you didn’t know, fighter jets are like really, really expensive—the F-16 can cost anywhere from $20–70M. They’re also really, really hard to fly (again, remember Top Gun?). But that creates a bit of a pickle—pilots need as much training as possible, but you can’t just go throwing an F-16 around for fun. And simulators are good practice, but nothing compares to the real thing.
Enter: Red 6. The company was founded by Robinson—a retired British RAF pilot and the first non-American to fly the F-22—alongside Glenn Snyder and Nick Bicanic in 2018 with the aim of “solving the worldwide military flight training crisis” using AR. Think Google Glass, but high stakes.
Since then, they’ve raised a total of $109.9M in funding at a $250M valuation, according to Pitchbook data. Most recently, in June 2023, they closed a $70M Series B led by RedBird Capital Partners with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures and Boeing’s AEI HorizonX Fund, among others.
Their main systems are:
- ATARS: A helmet-mounted AR display that overlays virtual, interactive elements—oncoming missiles, enemy fire, other planes—onto the pilot’s real-world view. This means pilots can practice things like dogfighting and in-air refueling without the risk. This is what will be integrated onto the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
- CARBON (Combined Augmented Reality Battlespace Operational Network): Software that can link pilots’ AR simulations during joint training exercises.
- ARCADE (Augmented Reality Command and Analytic Data Environment): An AR/VR-enabled mission planning and briefing/debriefing tool.
The company has already scored partnerships with many of the primes to integrate ATARS onto its aircraft. Red 6:
- Worked with Boeing to integrate ATARS onto TA-4J tactical aircraft, which they successfully flew in 2023.
- Worked with Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) to bring ATARS to the TF‑50 aircraft and its variants.
- Has also worked with BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, and Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC).
- Currently has active partnerships with Boeing, Aeralis, Palantir, SNC, and Northrop Grumman.
ATARS is already used on several military aircraft, including:
- The US Air Force’s T-38 Talon and MC-130
- The UK Royal Air Force’s BAE Systems Hawk T-2
Up in the air: With the new contract—awarded through the Air Combat Command and the Air Force Research Laboratory—Red 6 says it is the “the first company in the world delivering real-time, in-flight synthetic air combat training directly into the cockpits of operational fighter jets.”
In addition to flight training, the company says that ATARS on F-16s will help with the development of collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) (unmanned fighter jets, currently being developed by Anduril and General Atomics) and their integration into the manned fighter fleet.
Didn’t think we could get through a whole article without mentioning drones, either, did you?