GA-ASI has flown a second YFQ-42A Collaborative Fight Plane, following the kind’s first flight in August.
Two months after the kind’s first flight on Aug. 27, 2025, Normal Atomics Aeronautical Techniques revealed on Nov. 3 that it has flown a second YFQ-42A Collaborative Fight Plane (CCA). The corporate launched images of the second plane along with the announcement of the participation to the Worldwide Fighter Convention 2025.
The revealing of the second YFQ-42 additionally comes few days after Anduril flown for the primary time the YFQ-44A on Oct. 31, 2025. Following this milestone, each the U.S. Air Power’s new uncrewed fighters are actually in flight testing as a part of the Increment 1 of the CCA program.
“The YFQ-42A is a revolutionary plane, and the fleet is in manufacturing and within the air at this time,” mentioned David R. Alexander, president of GA-ASI. “This isn’t a ‘wait and see’ second. We’re flying. We’re delivering. And we’re advancing this way forward for fight aviation, the identical method we have now for greater than three many years.”
The YFQ-42
The YFQ-42A is designed for semi-autonomous air-to-air operations and attracts on the “genus-species” strategy pioneered with the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS). GA-ASI says it leveraged superior model-based digital engineering to speed up the plane’s growth whereas optimizing capabilities for future air dominance.
In comparison with the XQ-67, the YFQ-42A options an engine air inlet with serrated edges, just like the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, in addition to apparently barely modified fuselage mould strains. The nostril can also be completely different, altering from the XQ-67’s ‘shovel’-like design to a extra typical one.
Variations may be seen within the wings’ design, with the YFQ-42 exhibiting a better sweep angle and a better taper ratio, in addition to a bigger floor. The V-tails, though they’ve an angle just like the XQ-67’s, look like shorter, with greater taper ratio and no clipped ideas.
These design adjustments could be the results of makes an attempt to cut back the airframe’s radar cross-section to match stealth necessities of the CCA program. Additionally, the modifications mirror the CCA’s necessities for pace and maneuverability.
Central to this system is the autonomy core that can make the YFQ-42 capable of function along with manned plane. The corporate says this core has been refined by means of greater than 5 years of testing on the MQ-20 Avenger, which can also be getting used to check a number of autonomy brokers for the Air Power.
By combining a stealthy, air-to-air-focused design with this AI-driven autonomy, the YFQ-42A is meant to offer warfighters with a bonus in future fight eventualities. Initially meant to enrich the Subsequent Era Air Dominance manned fighter, the Boeing F-47, the CCAs may also fly with the present fifth gen platforms, the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II.
GA-ASI emphasised that this system is designed round scalability and affordability. The corporate is making ready for high-rate manufacturing that may help the Air Power’s said purpose of fielding greater than 1,000 CCAs on an accelerated timeline.
The F-22 as “Threshold Platform” for CCA
In keeping with a latest report by Aviation Week, the U.S. Air Power will initially pair CCAs solely with the F-22 Raptor. In reality, the service talked about in a report back to Congress that the Raptor is the “threshold platform” for CCA, whereas integration with F-16s, F-35As, F-15Es and F-15EXs is being thought of.
“America’s adversaries are countering U.S. air energy with better mass and a difficult air protection laydown that limits america’ means to mission fight energy in conventional methods,” the report says. “CCAs permit for risk-tolerant plane at a cheaper price level and function a drive multiplier.”
Aviation Week additional talked about that the report says CCAs “are anticipated to extend survivability of crewed plane, whereas increasing sensor protection, carrying further weapons, growing capability of fight plane, offering flexibility for various missions and offering a more cost effective choice in comparison with crewed fighters.”
The Air Power can also be persevering with parallel testing with the XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned plane to arrange for the introduction of CCAs. In reality, the service has just lately demonstrated the flexibility to have a number of autonomous collaborative platforms (ACPs) flying alongside crewed fighter plane.
Throughout an air fight coaching state of affairs at Eglin Air Power Base, Florida, the pilots of an F-16C Preventing Falcon and an F-15E Strike Eagle every managed two XQ-58As. The check has been outlined as “a significant leap in human-machine teaming.”
The Air Power Analysis Laboratory (AFRL) additionally mentioned the purpose of the XQ-58’s integration into air fight eventualities is to cut back pilot workload whereas enhancing situational consciousness and mission effectiveness. Furthermore, “information from the latest flight demonstration will inform future growth and deployment of semi-autonomous capabilities throughout the Division of Protection,” seemingly referring to the CCAs.
