The U.S. Air Drive says the YFQ-48A Mission Design Collection acknowledges Northrop Grumman’s Undertaking Talon as a “sturdy contender” for the CCA program.
The U.S. Air Drive has introduced that it has assigned the Mission Design Collection (MDS) YFQ-48A to the Northrop Grumman Undertaking Talon Collaborative Fight Plane on Dec. 22, 2025. The corporate unveiled the brand new unmanned platform on Dec. 3 on the Mojave Air and Area Port, after growing it largely in secrecy.
YFQ-48A
The YFQ-48A’s designation marks a key step ahead within the Collaborative Fight Plane program, because the Air Drive prepares to pick designs for the Increment 2. The service says the designation “highlights the continuing partnership between the Air Drive and Northrop Grumman and acknowledges the continued progress of the YFQ-48A as a powerful contender within the CCA program.”
As beforehand defined, this MDS defines the semi-autonomous plane as an unmanned fighter. In reality, YFQ means prototypes (as indicated by the ‘Y’ standing prefix) of UAVs (as denoted by the ‘Q’ car kind code) with the supposed function as a fighter (indicated by the ‘F’ fundamental mission).
The YFQ-48A now joins the 2 different CCAs, the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A, which obtained the identical unmanned fighter prototype designation in March 2025. These two plane, presently in flight testing, are a part of the CCA’s program Increment 1.
“We’re inspired by Northrop Grumman’s continued funding in growing superior semi-autonomous capabilities,” stated Brig. Gen. Jason Voorheis, program government officer for Fighters and Superior Plane. “Their method aligns with our technique to foster competitors, drive trade innovation, and ship cutting-edge expertise at velocity and scale.”
Within the press launch, the Air Drive defined “the CCA program’s acquisition technique emphasizes steady competitors, offering a number of on-ramps for trade participation.” In flip, this enables the service to “leverage probably the most modern options from throughout the protection industrial base to fulfill the evolving calls for of recent warfare.”
“Northrop Grumman’s dedication to innovation, low-cost manufacturing, and calculated risk-taking aligns completely with the CCA acquisition technique and the Secretary of Conflict’s Acquisition Transformation Technique,” stated Col. Timothy Helfrich, director of the Agile Improvement Workplace. “Undertaking Talon is a testomony to their capacity to push boundaries and experiment with new applied sciences, in the end advancing options that would improve the way forward for airpower.”
CCA Increment 2
Not too long ago, Breaking Protection reported in regards to the award of early contracts to 9 unnamed corporations for the Collaborative Fight Plane program’s Increment 2. The event, disclosed by an Air Drive spokesperson to the publication, will see the 9 corporations compete for a prototyping contract.
In line with the spokesperson, the contracts are a part of the “Idea Refinement” section. These will embody a “broad spectrum” of ideas, “starting from extra inexpensive, attritable ideas to higher-end, extra beautiful designs.”
Undertaking Talon
Northrop Grumman has formally unveiled “Undertaking Talon” on Dec. 3, 2025. The corporate outlined it as a brand new autonomous plane demonstrator constructed to validate quicker and extra inexpensive manufacturing strategies for giant uncrewed platforms.
The corporate described this system as a response to classes discovered from its unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Air Drive’s Collaborative Fight Plane (CCA) Increment 1. In line with statements made in the course of the unveiling, reported by a number of retailers, the corporate’s earlier CCA proposal carried out effectively technically however was thought of too expensive and thus not inexpensive.
Talon aimed to search out the best steadiness between functionality and price, with Tom Jones, president of Northrop’s aeronautics programs division, saying the end result was a design that’s each cheaper and extra succesful. Nonetheless, it seems the plane was created much less as a direct competitor for future CCA increments and extra as a proof-of-concept for a unique manufacturing philosophy, with quicker improvement, fewer elements, and a decrease value.
Undertaking Talon is right here. This next-gen autonomous plane is made to adapt quick.
➡️ Modular by design➡️ Mission-ready➡️ Constructed for the challenges forward pic.twitter.com/6UOhLSBHKn
— Northrop Grumman (@northropgrumman) December 4, 2025
“The thought was to see if we might construct an plane that had all the identical functionality of our unique providing, and do it quicker,” stated Jones. “So the end result was an plane, however the [more important] consequence we’re taking pictures for was the method. How will we design and construct issues that carry out at a excessive stage, however that we are able to construct shortly now and might do affordably?”
Among the many key improvement milestones and aims, Greg Morris, president of Scaled Composites, famous round 50% fewer elements in comparison with the unique design and construction totally product of composite supplies. This led to a 1,000-pound discount in weight and a roughly 30% quicker meeting of the plane.
The plane
Talon will not be a missionized fight drone and has not but flown, nonetheless the demonstrator supplies perception into Northrop Grumman’s evolving method to attritable programs and fast prototyping. Jones additional added that the plane will not be particularly focused for the follow-on CCA Increment 2 or different worldwide applications, though he didn’t rule out a submission of the design to the Air Drive.
Concerning the final configuration, it’s largely the identical talked about by Aviation Week within the report about Undertaking Lotus, this system’s preliminary title, that includes a shovel-shaped nostril, lengthy slender fuselage, low facet ratio lambda wing planform, prime mounted engine air inlet and exhaust, and canted twin tails.
The design seems optimized for prime efficiency and agility, with low-observable traits additionally seen. Aviation Week and The Conflict Zone additionally famous that the plane carried FAA registration “N444LX,” related to a Scaled Composites plane designated as “Mannequin 444.”
Concerning the powerplant, Northrop Grumman confirmed solely that Talon makes use of a single turbofan engine, however declined to determine the producer or thrust class. The engine is provided air by a trapezoidal dorsal inlet mounted above the aft fuselage, whereas the exhaust is positioned between the canted tail surfaces.
The nostril part options take a look at instrumentation typical of early flight-test articles, together with three air information probes extending ahead of the radome. The Conflict Zone additional famous the presence of a small aperture beneath the nostril, probably for a digital camera or sensor throughout testing.
The Conflict Zone additionally noticed a big trapezoidal panel on the underside of the fuselage, probably indicating area for an inner bay. The corporate didn’t touch upon whether or not the demonstrator is meant to hold shops internally, although a weapons or sensor bay could be according to CCA-type structure.
