SAN CARLOS – – October 29, 2026 -- Beacon AI flew its Murdock AI pilot assistant aboard three operational U.S. Air Force KC-46A Pegasus tankers over five flights and about 20 hours in August and September 2026, under an AFWERX Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) contract with Air Mobility Command (AMC). The company believes it is the first commercially developed AI pilot assistant to fly on multiple operational aircraft.
The flights began during Emerald Flag at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and continued at two more airfields, one of them a civil airport. The aircraft were already assigned to operational units and flown by fleet aircrews, not dedicated test crews.
Murdock advises crews without touching flight-critical systems
Murdock is a modular compute and crew-interface unit that reads from certified avionics buses, advises the crew and records every flight. It links by satellite to Lighthouse, Beacon's cloud-based fleet data platform. The flights demonstrated what Beacon calls Level 2 assistance: the system advises and the crew decides. The aircraft's certified flight-critical systems were not modified.
CEO Matt Cox said the approach is progressive, and that "the crew retains authority" at every stage.
Beacon targets fleet learning across aircraft and airfields
Flying multiple aircraft at airfields with different procedures and airspace is the first step toward what Beacon calls Fleet Learning. Under that model, flight data accumulates across operators and improves features for all of them. Next, Murdock is to provide progressive assistance across the flight lifecycle, from scheduling to debriefing.
TACFI contract follows SOCOM SBIR Phase 2 award
The AMC contract is an AFWERX TACFI OTA agreement and followed a SBIR Phase 2 award with U.S. SOCOM. Beacon is a Series A company that has raised more than $20 million in venture financing. It reports 13 U.S. military contracts and three commercial airline engagements.
Kevin Stamey, a former PEO Mobility director and Beacon advisor, said the system will reduce crew workload and improve mission effectiveness as missions grow longer and more complex.
KC-46 link opens path to 767 fleets and wider mobility force
The KC-46 is a military derivative of the Boeing 767, of which 1,361 have been delivered since 1982. AMC operates more than 1,000 airlift and aerial refueling aircraft, and the Air Force's planned KC-46 buy stands at 263 aircraft. Beacon says the interface Murdock uses is not unique to the tanker, which gives it a route to the rest of the mobility fleet.
About 30,300 aircraft are in airline service worldwide, according to Beacon, and none fly with AI pilot assistance.
House Armed Services Committee sets February 1, 2027 briefing deadline
In its report on the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, the House Armed Services Committee noted that Air Force and Special Operations Command work showed advisory and pilot-assist tools can improve situational awareness and decision-making without taking control of the aircraft. The committee directed the Secretary of Defense to brief it by February 1, 2027, on the Department's plan to evaluate and adopt such tools.
The prior-year report had encouraged the Navy, Air Force and Special Operations Command to prioritize light-hardware AI systems that assist aircrew, citing flight safety and reduced human error.
AFWERX growth stage investment lead Tiffany Robinson said the TACFI program aligns Department of the Air Force funding with matching investment and operational needs.