On 27 August, GA-ASI announced the beginning of the trial flights for its Collaborative Combat Aircraft Increment 1 solution for the US Air Force, designated by the Pentagon as the YFQ-42A.

Ground testing had started in May, after GA-ASI was selected, alongside Anduril, in April 2024 to build and fly fully production-representative CCAs. The Anduril entry is the YFQ-44A, where the Y in both cases indicates a production-representative aircraft (and as such will be dropped upon entering production), while F stands for “Fighter” and Q for uncrewed.

The YFQ-42A rapid progress has been eased by the earlier, parallel selection by the USAF of the same base platform, designated in that case XQ-67A, for the Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) requirement. While the OBSS is focused on providing flying sensors to augment manned aircraft, the CCA Increment 1 is focused on carrying air to air missiles.

The YFQ-42A development is also aided by the internal work carried out by GA-ASI through its GAMBIT concept of modular airframes and by the extensive use over the last several years, in collaboration with the USAF, of its jet-powered MQ-20 AVENGER as CCA surrogate, instrumental in a series of first for autonomy in the air.

The CCA is a stealthy uncrewed jet with a “learned” AI autonomy core, focused on the Air to Air mission. There are not yet official figures or indications on the sensors carried or the precise payload capacity.

The unit testing the CCAs has been established on the Beale Air Force Base in California. This is the very first “CCA Aircraft Readiness Unit” (ARU). While at present the focus is obviously on testing the candidate aircraft, the mission intended for the ARU is to provide CCAs ready to deploy worldwide at a moment’s notice. The USAF intends to procure more than 1,000 CCAs on an “accelerated timeline” and is already looking forward to an Increment 2 with possible selection of other aircraft designs.

Fielding CCAs has also been indicated as one of the Trump Administration’s main priorities for Defence, with extra funding to be made available immediately to further expand the scope and accelerate the pace of the project.

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