{"id":48307,"date":"2026-02-11T13:23:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T13:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2026\/02\/11\/us-marine-corps-advances-plans-for-drone-wingman\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:57:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:57:22","slug":"us-marine-corps-advances-plans-for-drone-wingman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air-warfare\/2026\/02\/11\/us-marine-corps-advances-plans-for-drone-wingman\/","title":{"rendered":"US Marine Corps advances plans for drone wingman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2026\/02\/11\/experts-argue-marine-pullback-in-okinawa-should-be-halted-as-china-threat-rises\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2026\/02\/11\/experts-argue-marine-pullback-in-okinawa-should-be-halted-as-china-threat-rises\/\">Marine Corps<\/a> has big plans in 2026 to advance toward fielding a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/air\/2026\/02\/03\/pentagon-taps-25-firms-for-small-cheap-attack-drone-competition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/air\/2026\/02\/03\/pentagon-taps-25-firms-for-small-cheap-attack-drone-competition\/\">drone<\/a> wingman to collaborate with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2025\/12\/30\/lockheed-still-paid-17-billion-despite-f-35s-poor-readiness-rate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2025\/12\/30\/lockheed-still-paid-17-billion-despite-f-35s-poor-readiness-rate\/\">F-35 Joint Strike Fighter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, the Corps released its 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2025\/04\/09\/what-marine-corps-aviation-has-in-store-over-the-next-five-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2025\/04\/09\/what-marine-corps-aviation-has-in-store-over-the-next-five-years\/\">Aviation Plan<\/a>, outlining its strategy to maintain and develop its aviation fleets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A top priority: testing and developing Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Expeditionary (MUX) TACAIR, an unmanned \u201ccollaborative combat aircraft\u201d intended to \u201cincrease the survivability and lethality of F-35 and enable the successful execution of the [strike fighter] mission across a wide range of developing threat environments,\u201d according to the document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The relatively low-cost MUX TACAIR will do that by assuming some of the risk that would otherwise fall to the manned aircraft in aerial combat operations, according to the Corps\u2019 vision for the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also on Tuesday, major defense contractor General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. announced its uncrewed jet, YFQ-42A, had been selected by the Marine Corps as a candidate for the MUX TACAIR program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe agreement integrates GA-ASI\u2019s expertise in autonomy and uncrewed aircraft systems with a government-provided mission package, using the YFQ-42A platform as a surrogate to evaluate integration with crewed fighters,\u201d the company said in a release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next steps include installing a Marine Corps mission kit onto the drone jet for follow-on assessment and rapid development of autonomy for the mission kit, described as \u201ca cost-effective, sensor-rich, software-defined suite capable of delivering kinetic and non-kinetic effects,\u201d so the system can then be put through its paces in expeditionary conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The announcement follows the successful maiden flight of YFQ-42A in August. The same platform has also been selected by the Air Force for testing in its CCA program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recent months have been eventful for the MUX TACAIR program. After demonstrating manned-unmanned teaming between the F-35 and Kratos\u2019 XQ-58 Valkyrie drone through four experimentation flights beginning in 2024, the Marine Corps <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/unmanned\/2026\/01\/08\/us-marine-corps-taps-northrop-kratos-to-build-valkyrie-drone-wingmen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/unmanned\/2026\/01\/08\/us-marine-corps-taps-northrop-kratos-to-build-valkyrie-drone-wingmen\/\">last month selected the Valkyrie<\/a> for mission development as part of the program, granting a Northrop Grumman-Kratos team a $231.5 million contract for the work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also last month, Marine Corps Aviation formally launched the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marines.mil\/News\/Messages\/Messages-Display\/Article\/4381792\/magtf-unmanned-expeditionary-tacair-mux-tacair-transition-task-force-ttf-announ\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.marines.mil\/News\/Messages\/Messages-Display\/Article\/4381792\/magtf-unmanned-expeditionary-tacair-mux-tacair-transition-task-force-ttf-announ\/\">MUX TACAIR Transition Task Force<\/a> to supervise and streamline the fielding process among stakeholder commands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A first-of-its-kind task force conference kicked off Monday at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, focused on \u201ccross-functional team (CFT) formation, and problem framing to the objective of future operational test flights at [Marine Test and Evaluation Squadron-1],\u201d according to the announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Five cross-functional teams will oversee aspects of the program ranging from training, readiness and operations to basing and facilities, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Upcoming project milestones for the MUX program, according to the newly released aviation plan, will include taxi testing with prototypes and a first flight for the conventional takeoff and landing variant of the drone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also on the to-do list is development of electronic warfare capabilities for the MUX TACAIR platforms, specifically so they can be deployed in defense of the manned platforms they escort and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The aviation plan adds that among key infrastructure priorities for the Corps is facilitating development and planning for MUX TACAIR \u201cwith focus on operational testing\u201d at the air station in Yuma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Marine Corps released its 2026 Aviation Plan on Tuesday, outlining its strategy to maintain and develop its aviation fleets. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":110562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":39,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[39,160,12,49,36,27],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2594],"class_list":["post-48307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-warfare","category-daily-news-roundup","category-industry","category-techwatch","category-newsletters","category-unmanned"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"PQOAJPXBIJELRN5D3CJZ5J3BNU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2026\/02\/11\/us-marine-corps-advances-plans-for-drone-wingman\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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