{"id":71197,"date":"2025-08-28T18:30:27","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T18:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/08\/28\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:22:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:22:44","slug":"first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/08\/28\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\/","title":{"rendered":"First flight tests begin for Air Force\u2019s drone wingmen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force announced Thursday one of its prototype collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) \u2014 the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/unmanned\/2024\/04\/24\/here-are-the-two-companies-creating-drone-wingmen-for-the-us-air-force\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/unmanned\/2024\/04\/24\/here-are-the-two-companies-creating-drone-wingmen-for-the-us-air-force\/\">General Atomics-made YFQ-42A<\/a> \u2014 has taken its first flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The flight test took place at an unidentified location in California, the service said. During the flight, the Air Force and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. collected data on how well it flies, its autonomous systems and how its mission systems integrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">David Alexander, president of General Atomics\u2019 aeronautics division, called the first flight a \u201cgreat moment\u201d for the company and the Air Force.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-smg-jwplayer-video\"><atype-video-jwplayer nostick=\"true\" playlisturl=\"https:\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/v2\/playlists\/fCzRqMW8?tags=cfac385b-e05f-4721-92b0-f2c4a9154955\" poster=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/video-poster-cfac385b-e05f-4721-92b0-f2c4a9154955.png\" aspectratio=\"16 \/ 9\" mute autostart=\"false\"><\/atype-video-jwplayer><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Air Force flew its first collaborative combat aircraft, the YFQ-42A from General Atomics, on Wednesday. Anduril&#8217;s YFQ-44A is expected to fly soon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s been our collaboration that enabled us to build and fly the YFQ-42A in just over a year,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cIt\u2019s an incredible achievement and I salute the Air Force for its vision and I salute our development team for delivering yet another historic first for our company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anduril, which is making another CCA dubbed YFQ-44A, said its first flight will take place soon, and congratulated General Atomics for beginning their flight tests. The Air Force announced both companies had won the first CCA contracts in April 2024, and both companies\u2019 aircraft <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2025\/05\/20\/both-air-force-ccas-now-in-ground-testing-expected-to-fly-this-summer\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2025\/05\/20\/both-air-force-ccas-now-in-ground-testing-expected-to-fly-this-summer\/\">began ground testing in May<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In its statement Thursday, the Air Force touted the new acquisition strategy that allowed a CCA to start flying within two years of the programs\u2019 launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis milestone showcases what\u2019s possible when innovative acquisition meets motivated industry,\u201d Air Force Sec. Troy Meink said. \u201cIn record time, CCA went from concept to flight, proving we can deliver combat capability at speed when we clear barriers and align around the warfighter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force is working on creating a fleet of CCAs to act as drone wingmen, flying alongside crewed fifth- and sixth-generation aircraft such as the F-35 and the still-in-the-works F-47, or Next Generation Air Dominance platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/afa-air-space\/2024\/09\/16\/how-the-air-force-averted-a-major-flaw-in-its-drone-wingmen-approach\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/afa-air-space\/2024\/09\/16\/how-the-air-force-averted-a-major-flaw-in-its-drone-wingmen-approach\/\">wants a fleet of at least 1,000 CCAs<\/a> to be able to be adapted to multiple configurations, which would be able to carry out missions such as strikes, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, or serving as decoys to lure enemy fire away from piloted aircraft. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin posted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2025\/05\/14\/air-force-eyes-longer-range-for-f-47-as-combat-edge-in-pacific-theater\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2025\/05\/14\/air-force-eyes-longer-range-for-f-47-as-combat-edge-in-pacific-theater\/\">graphic on social media in May<\/a> that indicated the first generation of CCAs would have a combat radius of more than 700 nautical miles and stealth capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force said its new acquisition approach for CCAs focuses on getting ideas from multiple vendors, reducing risk through competition and using modular open systems architecture to continuously upgrade and refine the drones\u2019 autonomous and mission systems capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re not just moving fast, we\u2019re learning fast,\u201d Allvin said in the statement. \u201cCCA will help us rethink the battlespace, extend reach, flexibility and lethality in combat operations and optimize warfighter performance through human-machine teaming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force plans to make a decision on which of the two CCA designs to send into production in fiscal 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General Atomics&#8217; YFQ-42A collaborative combat aircraft made its first test flight in California. Anduril expects its CCA, the YFQ-44A, to fly soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":120026,"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":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","breaking-news"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"4":{"categories":["your-air-force","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-air-force"}}},"categories":[7,37,160,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3412],"class_list":["post-71197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-breaking-news","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"6LFPBD3F3VBHFCYAOPBPYU7UZY","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2025\/08\/28\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>First flight tests begin for Air Force\u2019s drone wingmen - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"General Atomics&#039; YFQ-42A collaborative combat aircraft made its first test flight in California. Anduril expects its CCA, the YFQ-44A, to fly soon.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/08\/28\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First flight tests begin for Air Force\u2019s drone wingmen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"General Atomics&#039; YFQ-42A collaborative combat aircraft made its first test flight in California. Anduril expects its CCA, the YFQ-44A, to fly soon.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/08\/28\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-28T18:30:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T01:22:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephen Losey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephen Losey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/28\\\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/28\\\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"First flight tests begin for Air Force\u2019s drone wingmen\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2025-08-28T18:30:27+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T01:22:44+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/28\\\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 481,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/28\\\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/YFQ-42-test-flight-1.jpg-1.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Air Warfare\",\n\t                \"Breaking News\",\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/28\\\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/28\\\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/28\\\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"First flight tests begin for Air Force\u2019s drone wingmen - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/28\\\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/28\\\/first-flight-tests-begin-for-air-forces-drone-wingmen\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/YFQ-42-test-flight-1.jpg-1.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2025-08-28T18:30:27+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T01:22:44+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"General Atomics' YFQ-42A collaborative combat aircraft made its first test flight in California. 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