Beacon AI’s Murdock pilot assistant is logging real flight hours with the US Air Force

An AI copilot is now riding along on US Air Force missions. Beacon AI’s Murdock pilot assistant has flown aboard Air Force refueler-and-transporter aircraft, advising flight crews and steadily accumulating real-world flight experience. Co-founder Matt Cox, a former Navy fighter pilot, describes the goal as building an “R2-D2 for pilots.” What Murdock actually does in the cockpit Murdock is not flying the plane. It is designed to help the people who are. The platform handles real-time checklists, performance calculations, and route optimization. Those are tasks pilots manage constantly, often while juggling radio calls, weather, and everything else that makes flying a heavy aircraft demanding. Beacon AI ran flight tests in 2025 that validated Murdock’s features across critical phases of flight, including taxi and landing. During operational flight tests, Murdock received an over-the-air software update that was completed in hours. That pioneering mid-flight update capability came out of an earlier AFWERX contract, and it drastically reduces downtime. A growing stack of Pentagon contracts Beacon AI, founded in 2021 and based in San Carlos, California, has secured at least 13 contract...