The F-47 program has begun its engineering and manufacturing phase and will fly during this presidential administration, a service official said.
Test crews at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, previously dropped bombs from an F-15EX, but this is the first time an operational squadron has done so.
Piloted flights and autonomy tests began recently for modified F-16s that allows artificial intelligence agents to fly the aircraft.
"Let the AI do it," a former Air Force secretary said this week, pitting machines against human operators.
