General Atomics’ Collaborative Combat Aircraft Begins Ground Test Phase, First Image Revealed
On May 19 General Atomics’ Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) announced that their YFQ-42A had entered the ground testing phase on May 7. This uncrewed fighter is GA-ASI’s entrant to the USAF’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program which seeks to develop a family of robotic companions to team up with crewed fighters like the F-35 and F-47. After successful ground tests the aircraft will move into flight testing later this summer.
In addition to the announcement the USAF released the first ever photos of the drone fighter, showing off an elegant streamlined shape that is a trademark feature of GA-ASI’s design methodology. While not as stealthy as more expensive aircraft like the F-35 or B-21 the YFQ-42A certainly has a reduced signature compared to its competitor the Anduril YFQ-44A Fury. GA-ASI stands a high chance of defeating Anduril thanks to a great deal more experience with uncrewed jet aircraft including their MQ-20 Avenger which has over 40,000 flight hours, a great deal of which was flown conducting autonomy development for the CCA program.
Additionally GA-ASI built the XQ-67A under the Air Force Research Lab’s Off-Board Sensor Station (OBSS) program which Overt Defense reported on back in February 2023. This program focused on reducing the cost of uncrewed aircraft development and production with a focus on creating a common core that could be shared between fairly diverse variants. The OBSS doesn’t carry any weapons but has an advanced sensor integrated into the airframe, presumably a radar though details remain classified. OBSS derivatives and CCAs could work in a team with the former acting as a sensor while the latter acted as a shooter.
Earlier on May 1, it was announced that the first operational CCAs would be based out of Beale Air Force Base in Yuba County, California. GA-ASI announced that they will be displaying a full-scale model of the YFQ-42A at the Beale Air and Space Expo due to take place on June 7. The victor of the CCA competition is to be announced in 2026.