Loyal Wingman

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The U.S. Air Force has designated the drones that General Atomics and Anduril are currently developing as part of the first phase, or Increment 1, of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program as the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A, respectively.
Air

‘Fighter Drone’ Designations Officially Assigned To Collaborative Combat Aircraft By USAF

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Mar 4, 2025

Indian drone maker NewSpace Research and Technologies has officially unveiled a new jet-powered loyal wingman-type drone called Abhimanyu.
Air

Indian Naval Collaborative Drone Concept Unveiled

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 10, 2025

U.S. Navy officials have laid out several priorities they say are key to ensuring the service's carrier air wings will be able to succeed in future conflicts, especially a high-end fight in the Pacific.
Sea

Carrier Air Wing’s Key Priorities To Win In Future Pacific Fight Laid Out By Navy

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 30, 2025

The U.S. Air Force's XQ-67A drone is set to receive modifications and upgrades to demonstrate its ability to perform certain missions as part of a program called Demon Ape.
Air

XQ-67 Getting Overhauled With New Capabilities As Part Of Demon Ape Program

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 24, 2025

F-35 AI-Enabled Drone Controller Capability Successfully Demonstrated
Air

F-35 AI-Enabled Drone Controller Capability Successfully Demonstrated

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 23, 2025

A greater focus on long range strike capabilities is among the alternatives the U.S. Air Force is considering to a costly new crewed sixth-generation stealth combat jet as part of its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems. A lower-cost design focused primarily on acting as a 'quarterback' for Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones is also still on the table.
Air

$20 Billion Price Tag To Complete Development Of USAF’s Next Generation Fighter (Updated)

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 13, 2025

The second tranche of U.S. Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones could be between 20 to 30 percent more expensive per airframe than those in the first batch.
Air

Second Batch Of Air Force CCA Drones Could Be 20 To 30 Percent Pricier Than The First

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 10, 2025

A human controller flying in an L-39 Albatros jet ordered a pair of L-29 Delfin jets with artificial intelligence (AI) driven flight technology acting as surrogates for advanced drones to engage simulated enemy fighters in a series of recent flight tests.
Air

Skunk Works Tests See AI-Enabled L-29 Jets Fly Mock Air-To-Air Mission On Orders From Aerial Controller

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Nov 23, 2024

A unit charged with exploring how the U.S. Air Force will utilize its future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) is now set to get actual examples of the first tranche of those drones to experiment with.
Air

Extra Collaborative Combat Aircraft Purchases To Give USAF Test Unit A Boost

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Nov 19, 2024

The U.S. Navy recently used a drone control system now being installed on all its supercarriers to operate an actual uncrewed aircraft, a General Atomics Avenger, for the first time.
Air

MQ-20 Avenger First Drone Flown Using Navy’s Carrier-Based Control System

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Nov 8, 2024

B-21 Taking On Some Of NGAD Fighter’s Missions On The Table Air Force Says
Air

B-21 Taking On Some Of NGAD Fighter’s Missions On The Table Air Force Says

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Oct 26, 2024

German Navy P-8
News & Features

German P-8s To Fly From U.K. To Help Counter Russian Submarine Threat

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Oct 23, 2024

The U.S. Marine Corps says it has demonstrated new capabilities for operating future drones with high degrees of autonomy in expeditionary operations with another test flight of one of its stealthy XQ-58 Valkyries.
Air

Third Marine XQ-58 Valkyrie Flight Test Uses Link 16 For Control

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Sep 26, 2024

The U.S. Air Force is interested in adding an active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar to its X-62A test jet. The radar is part of larger plans to acquire a new modular sensor suite for the uniquely modified F-16 specifically to help expand its ability to support advanced autonomy developments.
Air

New Radar Sought To Help X-62A Test Jet Take Next Leap In Autonomy Testing

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Sep 24, 2024

Collins Aerospace has put forward a vision for what a high-end air combat engagement between the U.S. and Chinese armed forces, with the American side employing crewed fighters and Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone wingmen, could look like in the future.
Air

What American Fighters And Their Drone Wingmen Fighting Chinese Jets Might Look Like

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Sep 20, 2024

The U.S. Air Force says the once-secretive Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) drone program has been fully folded into the service's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) effort. General Atomics has already disclosed that its current CCA design is derived from the XQ-67 drone it developed for OBSS.
Air

Collaborative Combat Aircraft Program ‘Ingesting’ Modular Chassis Concept Pioneered By XQ-67 Drone

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Sep 20, 2024