:

Air Force

Northrop Grumman Eyes First Flight Of Project Talon Next Year

Frank Wolfe

Friday, December 5th, 2025

SHARE:

Northrop Grumman Eyes First Flight Of Project Talon Next Year

Pictured is a Northrop Grumman photo of Project Talon.

Northrop Grumman [NOC] used its Beacon autonomous testbed, announced in June, to accelerate development of the Project Talon autonomous drone offering for the U.S. Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. Modified for optionally autonomous flight, Beacon is a Model 437 Vanguard aircraft by Northrop Grumman-owned Scaled Composites, founded by aircraft designer and entrepreneur Burt Rutan in Mojave, Calif., in 1982. "Built to fly alongside crewed fighters," Project Talon "represents a paradigm shift in air dominance as an adaptive, collaborative…

Congress

House Republicans’ Blueprint For Reconciliation 3.0 Includes $60 Billion For Defense

House Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a blueprint for a third reconciliation bill that includes $60 billion for defense, a figure slightly below the Trump administration’s request to cover Iran war […]

Congress

Senate Dems Block Consideration Of FY ‘27 NDAA Over Iran War Concerns

Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a vote to advance consideration of the chamber’s $1.14 trillion fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization (NDAA). The procedural vote was 46-50, failing to reach […]

Congress

Concerns Raised At SASC Hearing On Unobligated Reconciliation Funds And Lack Of Updates On Iran War Cost

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) raised concerns at a hearing on Tuesday about the majority of funds in the $153 billion first reconciliation bill being unobligated thus […]

Unmanned Systems

CBO Says Upfront Costs To Protect Military Installations From Drones Between $1 Million And $74 Million

The initial costs to acquire and deploy counter-small unmanned aircraft system (C-sUAS) defenses at individual Defense Department installations are estimated at between $1.2 million and $73.6 million depending on the […]