Red 6 secures U.S. Air Force contract for augmented reality training system

Red 6, a hardware-enabled software company revolutionizing military flight training, has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Air Force to integrate its ATARS (Airborne Tactical Augmented Reality System) into the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Awarded through Air Combat Command and the Air Force Research Laboratory, this milestone positions Red 6 as the first company in the world delivering real-time, in-flight synthetic air combat training directly into the cockpits of operational fighter jets.

“This is more than a contract — it's a validation of our vision and a signal that the future of air combat training has arrived,” says Daniel Robinson, Co-founder and CEO of Red 6. “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. The F-16 is just the beginning.”

The contract builds on Red 6's successful integration of ATARS into the T-38 Talon and signals a major expansion of the company's growing footprint across the U.S. Air Force and beyond. ATARS allows pilots to train against intelligent, maneuvering virtual adversaries in real-time during live flight — delivering immersive, repeatable, and measurable training that blends the realism of live operations with the flexibility of simulation.

Built on a low-latency, network-agnostic architecture, ATARS delivers high-resolution, full-color synthetic entities without compromising performance or safety. The system supports next-generation collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) development, enables training in constrained airspace, and generates structured datasets to objectively assess pilot readiness.

In addition to the F-16 and the T-38, ATARS is already integrated into the MC-130 with the U.S. Air Force and the BAE Systems Hawk T-2 with the U.K. Royal Air Force. Red 6 also holds active integration partnerships with Boeing, Aeralis, Palantir, SNC, and Northrop Grumman.