AURORA, Colo.–More than two years after the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) had planned to launch the L3Harris Technologies
‘ [LHX] Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3), it may get into orbit this year on United Launch Alliance‘s (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket, which is in the final stages of certification.
ULA is a Boeing [BA]/LockheedMartin [LMT] partnership.
NTS-3 “is currently scheduled on the first Vulcan military launch, the first certified launch,” Jeffrey Hebert, senior scientist for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) at AFRL’s sensors directorate at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio said during a PNT panel discussion here on Tuesday at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Warfare Symposium.
“We’re hoping it will be soon,” Hebert said of the Vulcan Centaur launch. “NTS-3 provides all three segments–a software-defined satellite. We will have a fully re-programmable satellite…that comes with a control segment that allows us to control the satellite and make sure that satellite is responsive to the environment that surrounds us, and then we have software-defined user equipment as well.”
AFRL plans to conduct up to a hundred or more NTS-3 experiments over a year.
“We’d like to be able to sense what the environment is on the ground for our terrestrial users and be able to respond in the control segment up to the satellite and look at ways that we can work with the fact that everything is software-defined,” Hebert said. “Everything can be re-programmed…We’re already responsive with the current control segment that we have, but GCS [ground control segment] will allow us to be even more responsive. We’re just kicking it up, turning the dial up to 11.”
In January 2023, AFRL said that L3Harris had delivered the 1,100-pound NTS-3 to AFRL’s space vehicles directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M., in expectation of a launch by the end of 2023 (Defense Daily, Jan. 27). Initially, AFRL had planned for an NTS-3 launch in March 2023.
NTS-3, which integrates a PNT payload on a Northrop Grumman [NOC] ESPAStar bus, is to demonstrate advanced protection technologies for GPS and other PNT systems.
“One of the technologies that has me really excited about NTS-3 is that we have a phased array antenna that can provide a high-powered signal from space,” Hebert said. “It will be able to do some things that we’ve only dreamed about, for instance multiple spot beams and servicing different users in different parts [of the world] with different services.”
In 2019, the Air Force named NTS-3 as one of its first three Vanguard programs.
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has awarded Scale AI a contract to deliver generative artificial intelligence tools to assist the U.S. military with data driven, custom operational and theater-level planning, beginning with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. European Command.
The award to the San Francisco-based company is a key milestone in the Defense Department’s use of AI to leverage its data to rapidly respond to threats.
Scale AI on Wednesday said Thunderforge is DoD’s “flagship” program that will accelerate decision-making with human supervision. The final product will include modeling and simulation tools for AI-powered wargaming and planning to review and assess potential courses of action, DIU also said on Wednesday.
“Thunderforge is the foundation for the next generation of AI-driven military decision-making, enhancing the Joint Force’s ability to plan, adapt, and respond to emerging challenges at machine speed—helping the warfighter to deter major conflict, or win if forced to fight,” DIU Director Doug Beck said in a statement.
Anduril Industries and Microsoft [MSFT] are part the team, the former bringing its Lattice software to provide a modeling and simulation infrastructure that will be integrated into Scale AI’s large language model (LLM) capability, and the latter supplying advanced LLM technology to “enable a leading edge, multimodal solution,” DIU said.
The Thunderforge solicitation was issued late last August and responses were due by Sept. 6 seeking GenAI solutions to help war planners quickly and better develop joint operational plans (Defense Daily, Aug. 26, 2024).
Once deployed with INDOPACOM and EUCOM, Thunderforge will be provided to the other combatant commands, DIU said. DIU and Scale AI are planning to deliver parts of the Thunderforge solution in the “next month or so,” a spokesperson for the office told Defense Daily. “And we will prototype and iteratively develop through the next year at both commands.”
DoD’s current marquis AI program is Maven Smart Sensor, which uses computer vision to analyze imagery to provide targeting data and situational awareness for U.S. military planners and operators. Palantir Technologies [PLTR] is the prime contractor for Maven.
AURORA, Colo.–The U.S. Space Force expects Ready to Transition to Operations (RTO) and fielding decisions this year on RTX‘s [RTX] Global Positioning System Next-Generation Operational Control System (GPS OCX).
“What many people don’t realize is that GPS OCX is much further along than most people are tracking,” Col. Andrew Menschner, the commander of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Operations Command, told a panel on positioning, navigation and timing at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Warfare Symposium here. “OCX has been involved in all seven GPS III launches…Our operators are using it every day running through testing to burn down the requirements. We have nearly 65 contacts with vehicles through the OCX program, and our team is working through those operational scenarios, giving timely feedback, and their impressions have been largely favorable.”
For some time starting by the end of this year, both the current MUP operational control system and OCX will be in simultaneous use, as Space Force aims to field OCX by the end of the year.
“97 percent of the requirements of OCX have been tested, and we are building toward two decisions later this year–Ready to Transition to Operations, the last decision in the acquisition channel that says this program is ready to transfer over to operations, and the fielding decision that follows that,” Menschner said.
Congress has criticized OCX for being
nearly a decade late, and called on senior leader attention to the matter–a role filled by former Department of the Air Force space acquisition chief Frank Calvelli (Defense Daily, Oct. 4, 2023). Space Force had expected the RTO in April 2023.
GPS OCX Blocks 1 and 2 are to control older GPS II and newer GPS III satellites, launched starting in 2018, and both older and modernized signals. The concurrent delivery of Block 2 is to add the international L1C and Military Code signals.
Cost estimates for GPS OCX have significantly increased from the $3.9 billion estimated in November 2012.
RTX has said that GPS OCX “will provide improved accuracy of the current system and will be able to fly more than twice as many satellites”–an increase that the company said “will increase coverage in hard-to-reach areas such as urban canyons and mountainous terrain.”
Defense technology startup Epirus, which has developed a high energy system designed to thwart threats from small drones at relatively low cost, has raised $250 million in a new funding round that will be put toward dramatically increasing production of its Leonidas platform and finding ways to bolster its supply of critical components in support of the pending manufacturing ramp.
Epirus’ current production rate is four systems per year at its facility in Los Angeles and given available capacity could increase that to about 20 per year, Andy Lowery, CEO of Epirus, told Defense Daily on Monday. The company is creating a plan to “safely and conservatively” build 100 Leonidas systems in the U.S. a year based on projected demand in three or four years, he said.
The 100 per year is a “goal post” to drive toward but demand could exceed that, Lowery said, citing current Defense Department demand, strong international interest, and the Trump administration’s proposed Golden Dome for America multi-layered air defense system to protect the U.S. homeland.
The Series D funding raise was led by 8VC and Washington Harbour Partners, and brings total venture funding in the company to more than $550 million, Epirus said on Wednesday. General Dynamics [GD] also invested again, enough now that they are considered a “major investor” and will put an observer on the company’s board of directors, Lowery said ahead of the announcement.
Epirus in late 2023 and early 2024 delivered four first generation Integrated Fires Protection Capability High Power Microwave (IFPC-HPM) short-range systems to the Army for engineering and development testing. That testing was successful and the Army shipped two IFPC-HPM systems, which are based on Leonidas, to the Middle East where they are being used for base protection.
The company is building four second generation IFPC-HPM systems that will be delivered to the Army this summer. The Gen II upgrades include more power, configurable polarization to increase effectiveness, and a smaller generator that will charge more batteries to increase stand alone fire, all of which will result in increased range, Lowery said.
Epirus’ has a 100,000 square foot facility in California that has upward of 70,000 square feet for manufacturing, which Lowery said is about 20 percent utilized, and the rest for office space. The company has not picked a location for a new manufacturing plant, which will be at least 300,000 square feet, he said.
Lowery mentioned Oklahoma as a serious contender for a new manufacturing plant, which is where the company will use some of its new funding to open an “immersive simulation center” in Lawton, home to the Army’s Fort Sill and the Army Air Defense Artillery School and Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft System University. The new center will open in the third quarter of 2025.
He also highlighted the Univ. of Oklahoma’s in Norman, where the company has a small office of engineers that collaborate with the school’s engineers. The university has an advanced radar research center and expertise in phase array radars, Lowery said.
As Epirus begins to gear up to dramatically increase production of Leonidas, Lowery said the supporting supply chain needs to be addressed, in particular around high power amplifiers in terms of quality and capacity. Epirus is considering building its own high power amplifier factory to make 30,000 to 50,000 of the key components annually, he said, adding that the company may also decide to partner with another firm or acquire one.
Lowery is “leaning toward a make versus a buy” on the trade study the company is doing around its amplifier supply. MACOM is the company’s third-tier supplier of gallium nitride-based amplifiers, he said.
Market demand overall is relatively low for “super high-power amplifiers” that are customized to Epirus’ needs, Lowery said.
The company is looking at a “double-click” on its second and third-tier suppliers to sort out how to strengthen its supply base, he said.
Other participants in the funding round include return investors StepStone Group, T. Rowe Price, and Gaingels, and new investors consisting of Oppenheimer’s Private Market Opportunities Vista VI Fund, NightDragon, Manhattan Venture Partners, Centaurus Capital, Center15 Capital, and others.
The European Union has detailed a new plan to boost defense spending by nearly $850 billion in the coming years, with some of the investment to go toward supporting Ukraine security efforts.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, unveiled the five-part “ReArm Europe” initiative, which arrives as the Trump administration has ordered a pause on further U.S. military aid to Kyiv.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, during a press conference. Photo: European Union
“We are in an era of rearmament. And Europe is ready to massively boost its defense spending. Both, to respond to the short-term urgency to act and to support Ukraine but also to address the long-term need to take on much more responsibility for our own European security,” von der Leyen said in a statement “This set of proposals focuses on how to use all of the financial levers at our disposal – in order to help member states to quickly and significantly increase expenditures in defense capabilities. Urgently now but also over a longer time over this decade.”
The Pentagon on Tuesday confirmed a pause has been issued on providing further military aid to Ukraine, which followed a tense meeting between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last Friday (Defense Daily, March 4).
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last month that European partners must provide “the overwhelming share” of future weapons aid to Ukraine (Defense Daily, Feb. 12).
A key part of the plan includes a proposal to provide $159.2 billion in loans to EU member states for defense spending, to include investments in air and missile defense, artillery systems, missiles, ammunition drones, counter-drone systems, cyber and military mobility.
“It will help member states to pool demand and to buy together,” von der Leyen said. “This approach of joint procurement will also reduce costs, reduce fragmentation, increase interoperability and strengthen our defense industrial base.”
The ReArm Europe plan calls for steps to “unleash” more public funding in defense, with von der Leyen noting she will propose activating “the national escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact, which will allow Member States to significantly increase their defense expenditures without triggering the Excessive Deficit Procedure.”
“Member States are ready to invest more in their own security if they have the fiscal space. And we must enable them to do so,” von der Leyen said.
The proposal also calls for “mobilizing private capital by accelerating the Savings and Investment Union and through the European Investment Bank” and utilizing the EU budget to support defense investment efforts.
“There is a lot that we can do in this domain in the short term to direct more funds towards defense-related investments. This is why I can announce that we will propose additional possibilities and incentives for member states that they will decide, if they want to use cohesion policy programs, to increase defense spending,” von der Leyen said.
A day after the Trump administration’s decision to pause further military aid to Ukraine, the president’s pick for the Pentagon’s top policy job was pressed during his confirmation hearing on his position regarding further support to Kyiv and his view on Russia’s invasion.
Elbridge Colby, the nominee for under secretary of defense for policy, cited the “very delicate diplomatic process” underway when asked for his views on the topic, to include whether Russia had invaded Ukraine.
Elbridge Colby (middle), nominee to be the next under secretary of defense for policy, participates in the Threat and the Strategy panel during the Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Md., Sept. 17, 2019. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Chad Trujillo)
“I would hate to be in a situation of disrupting or inhibiting progress on peace. I think the president and vice president have been very clear that words matter and I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to be commenting on these delicate topics,” Colby said during his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Colby, who has previously argued in favor of shifting U.S. defense resources from Europe and the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific to focus efforts on China, served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development during the first Trump administration and most recently launched the Marathon Initiative policy research organization.
“I know some of you will have different views on important issues, but I can assure you of several things; that I am deeply committed to a foreign and defense policy that realistically protects and advances all Americans’ security, freedom and prosperity, that I am willing and ready to engage with those who disagree with me and adapt my views based on persuasive arguments and the facts, that I value our alliances deeply even as I think they must be adapted and that I love our great country and will put its interests first and foremost,” Colby said in his opening remarks.
The Pentagon on Tuesday confirmed a pause has been issued on providing further military aid to Ukraine, which followed a tense meeting between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last Friday.
Zelenskyy was then asked to leave the White House early and plans to sign a new agreement establishing a framework granting the U.S. greater access to critical minerals in Ukraine were scrapped, with Trump having accused the Ukrainian leader of not expressing sufficient gratitude for the U.S.’ support providing aid to assist in its fight against Russia (Defense Daily, Feb. 28).
SASC Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) opened the hearing addressing the “elephant in this hearing room today” regarding the recent developments around Ukraine amid Putin’s “continued barrage of attacking apartments, civilian targets and other areas in Ukraine” and his concern with the failure to sign the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal.
“[This was] not a good weekend for peace in Ukraine or world peace,” Wicker said. “The president’s trying to get a peace deal in Ukraine and I certainly hope we’ll be able to get this back on the rails.”
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the SASC ranking member, called the move to pause further security assistance to Ukraine a “callous decision.”
“President Trump seems eager to strike a deal with Vladimir Putin at any cost, even conceding our most valuable points of leverage before reaching the negotiating table. His recent claim that Ukraine, not Russia, started this war is offensive, and his attacks against President Zelenskyy are badly misguided,” Reed said. “Frankly, the spectacle in the Oval Office last week was a failure of American leadership.”
In the last weeks of the Biden administration, the Pentagon confirmed that the incoming Trump White House would have “a few billion dollars” remaining in Presidential Drawdown Authority to use for Ukraine security assistance packages (Defense Daily, Jan. 8).
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last month that European partners must provide “the overwhelming share” of future weapons aid to Ukraine (Defense Daily, Feb. 12).
Wicker noted Colby has worked on defense policy for more than two decades and played a “pivotal role” in crafting the 2018 National Defense Strategy, which placed an emphasis on strategic competition with China.
“Mr. Colby and I have been ringing the same bell on military unpreparedness for years, particularly as it relates to China,” Wicker said. “We should build a larger U.S. military footprint in East Asia and we should accelerate the most important weapons programs to deter China.”
“Given the threat environment facing us, I strongly believe that we cannot simply pivot our attention and resources from one threat to another. That is an approach the Obama administration tried and it did fail. We must be focused and strategic,” Wicker added. “Beijing is not pivoting between theaters or among theaters. Significant American withdrawal in Europe, Africa, South America or the Middle East will allow the Chinese Communist Party to overcome us strategically.”
Reed further added that Colby has argued against continuing the same level of U.S. support for Ukraine and for “steep reductions to America’s role in Europe,” and asked the nominee for his views on balancing priorities across multiple theaters.
Colby told the panel one of his longer-term top priorities is to “revivify” the defense so it’s capable of resourcing what’s required in multiple theaters “at the level that we need.”
“My arguments about Ukraine have been based on the need for strategic prioritization. I don’t contest the fact that the Chinese are looking at what we’re doing with Ukraine at all,” Colby said.
“We have to have the military capabilities in Asia or relevant to Asia to be able to conduct a local defense of Taiwan at a cost and a level of risk that the American people are prepared to tolerate. And that has been my main focus.”
Colby was pressed by several Democratic senators to state outright whether Russia had invaded Ukraine, often sidestepping the question but stating that it was a “factual reality” that is “demonstrably true” when asked whether Russian forces crossed the border in 2022.
“From a military point of view, from a defense point of view…Russia presents a significant military threat to Europe and there are significant military threats to the homeland as well. And I think from a defense point of view, we need to regard that in a very clear-eyed way. At the same time, as an overall strategy, I think that can support and be compatible with an effort to diminish the potential for direct confrontation with Russia, in the same way with China as well,” Colby said.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) last month demonstrated its MQ-20 Avenger unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) flying with a government furnished reference architecture that enables air vehicles to integrate with compliant autonomy software, in this case Shield AI’s Hivemind artificial intelligence pilot that flew the aircraft.
The demonstration was part of the Air Force Test Center’s Orange Flag-1 exercise at Edwards AFB, Calif., and was the first of several planned autonomy flights in 2025 between the two companies, Shield AI said.
GA-ASI, a business of General Atomics, said the MQ-20 was equipped with the government’s Autonomy-Government Reference Architecture, a pilot interface for autonomy software, for operations focused on air-to-air engagements. The company uses the jet-powered UCAV as a testbed for future autonomous collaborative platforms.
GA-ASI, and Anduril Industries, are both developing autonomous air vehicles for the first increment of the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program (Defense Daily, March 4).
The A-GRA is designed to enhance interoperability across autonomous military platforms and help the government avoid vendor lock through open and common interfaces.
“This flight showcased how advanced autonomous systems can seamlessly operate on open-architecture platforms without vendor lock, ensuring warfighters have access to the best mission autonomy solutions available,” Mike Atwood, vice president of advanced programs for GA-ASI, said in a statement. “GA-ASI is building an open platform that supports these kinds of industry collaborations, which is key to accelerating the future of autonomous aviation and ensuring mission-ready autonomy solutions.”
GA-ASI also said the recent flight demonstrated the ability to transition between autonomy systems in flight over proliferated low Earth orbit satellites using Shield AI’s pilot software. The Avenger switched between GA-ASI’s software, government software, and Shield AI’s software “as needed,” proving out the aircraft can upgrade software as fast as it is developed, the company said.
Shield AI has also flown its Hivemind AI pilot on its unmanned aircraft system platforms, a test variant of the Air Force’s F-16 fighter, and unmanned aircraft built by Kratos Defense & Security Solutions [KTOS]. Hivemind is designed to enable autonomous flight in contested environments with limited or now communication, and where adversaries are trying to jam the aircraft.
“Hivemind flying the MQ-20 is a major step forward in demonstrating operational autonomy at scale and a proof point for the power of industry-led innovation,” Christian Gutierrez, VP of Hivemind Solutions at Shield AI, said in a statement. “We’re investing our own resources into this to accelerate our larger goal, flying autonomy on as many platforms as possible.”
The Air Force and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) in January selected Anduril Industries and Zone 5 Technologies to move into the second phase of the Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV) prototype project that will provide affordable air vehicles that feature modularity to enable subsystem testing for future air launched weapons, and can be built at high rates.
Under the six-month second phase of the ETV contract, Anduril said on Tuesday it will demonstrate autonomous teaming capabilities of its long-range Baracuda-500 autonomous air vehicle, continue improving the manufacturability of the system, and highlight its modularity for adaptability to different missions.
The Air Force Armament Directorate and DIU last June awarded first phase ETV prototype contracts to Anduril, Integrated Solutions for Systems, Leidos [LDOS], and Zone 5 (Defense Daily, June 3, 2024).
Zone 5 said it has selected Scientific Systems Company, Inc. to provide the Collaborative Weapon Autonomy software suite to be integrated onto the company’s ETV prototypes. The California-based company said the software enable multi-vehicle operations through decentralized operations to increase the chances the air vehicles will hit their targets.
“The software allows weapons to adapt to changes in target prioritization in real-time and enable opportunities to optimize weapon employment playbooks,” Zone 5 said.
The prototype project includes the companies taking an open architecture approach for rapid subsystem integration. In the first phase, the companies had to conduct a flight-test of their respective air vehicles.
Anduril said that later this year it will conduct more flight tests to demonstrate the collaborative autonomy capabilities of its system, “including simultaneous vertical launch of multiple Barracuda-500 systems, in flight system-to-system communications, and how Lattice for Mission Autonomy enables the execution of novel collaborative autonomous behaviors designed to increase effectiveness in contested environments.”
Lattice is Anduril’s artificial intelligence-based open systems platform for large-scale integration and use of autonomous systems under human supervision.
Anduril last September introduced its family of modular Barracuda turbojet powered air vehicles, all of which include cruise missile variants (Defense Daily, Sept. 12, 2024). The software-defined systems are designed for high-rate production because it is made with fewer parts, relies heavily on a commercial supply chain, and non-specialized labor and tools.
Over the next few months Anduril will produce ETV prototypes “using manufacturing processes and equipment that are representative of future full-rate production techniques, continuing development towards a production variant capable of rapidly scalable manufacture in 2026,” it said.
Barracuda is designed for launch from air, ground, and sea-based platforms.
AURORA, Colo.–The U.S. Air Force will likely fare “extremely well” in a GOP budget reconciliation bill, a service official suggested on Tuesday at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Warfare Symposium here.
that sets a blueprint for passing Trump administration priorities via the reconciliation process, to include spending an additional $100 billion on defense over four years, while Senate Republicans said that they want $150 billion more over those four years (Defense Daily, Feb. 26).
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called for an 8 percent annual cut in DoD funding over the next five years for a possible reallocation to higher defense needs.
“The reconciliation is gonna be just part of what gives us opportunities to start new programs,” Maj. Gen. Joseph “Solo” Kunkel, the Air Force director of force design, integration, and wargaming, said here during a Tuesday panel discussion on future air superiority. “I think the Air Force is gonna do extremely well in those [reconciliation] discussions. I think you’ll see the Air Force on top.”
“I think that also goes into this 8 percent budget cut,” he said. “We’re not doing the 8 percent budget cut because we’re gonna cut the military. We’re doing an 8 percent budget cut because we realize there’s gotta be a shift in TOA [total obligation authority] between organizations, between [military] services so I think we’re also gonna do well when you take a look at the 8 percent budget cut and how it’s reallocated among the services. The Air Force provides easy policy options for decision makers. We always will. More Air Force makes sense, now more than ever.”
Budget reconciliation would allow the Senate, when the bill gets there, to pass billions of dollars in Trump administration priorities without requiring the 60-vote threshold needed to break the filibuster, while the House will require a near-unified GOP caucus to support the measure facing likely unanimous Democratic opposition.
During Tuesday’s panel discussion on future air superiority, Air Force Gen. Kenneth “Cruiser” Wilsbach, the head of Air Combat Command, said that manned fighters, such as the Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-22 and F-35, will continue to play a significant part.
While General Atomics and Anduril are soon to deliver their Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) prototypes to Creech AFB, Nev., for flights under the direction of the Air Force CCA Experimental Operations Unit at Nellis AFB, Nev.’s 53rd Wing, “in 2025, we don’t have the artificial intelligence [AI] that we can plug pilots out of aircraft and plug AI in them to the degree that the AI can replace a human brain,” Wilsbach said.
“Someday we will have that, I trust, but right now, we don’t so it does require this manned and unmanned teaming, as we go forward,” he said. “In the future, maybe not. It would be great not to put humans at risk in the battlespace, but for right now, the human brain is the best intelligence that we have.”
Top Trump adviser Elon Musk has suggested a near-term end to manned fighter aircraft, such as the F-35 and the Air Force’s manned Next Generation Air Dominance fighter–now on hold, and their replacement by AI-enabled drones (Defense Daily, Dec. 19, 2024).
“The American way of war is always advancing, always putting the knife on the throat of the enemy, always having options,” Kunkel said on Tuesday. “In the history of war, fights always collapse, and eventually you end up fixing bayonets. I think the same is gonna be true with this future fight. You’re gonna wanna be in a position where there is someone that can continue to take the fight to the enemy when the autonomy breaks down, when the links break down. I think you want someone there that can continue to put the knife on the enemy’s throat. I don’t see us fully stepping away from manned aircraft ever.”
AURORA, Colo.–The U.S. Air Force has bestowed “mission design series” (MDS) designations on its two Increment 1 Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) prototypes.
The General Atomics
Gambit offering is the YFQ-42A and Anduril Industries‘ Fury is the YFQ-44A, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Allvin told the Air and Space Forces’ Warfare Symposium here on Monday. “Y” signifies prototype aircraft, “F” fighter/air-to-air mission, and “Q” a drone.
First flights are on track for this summer, Allvin said.
David Alexander, the president of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI), said in a statement that the “YFQ-42A continues a long and distinguished history for GA-ASI that dates back to the 1990s and the debut of the RQ-1 Predator, which later changed to MQ-1 Predator.”
“The YFQ-42A designation follows the Air Force’s decision to designate GA-ASI’s highly common predecessor aircraft as the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station [OBSS],” GA-ASI said. “The XQ-67A was ordered by the Air Force Research Lab to support the development of concepts necessary to implement the vision for CCA.”
OBSS had its first flight in February last year, GA-ASI said, and the Air Force decided to narrow the CCA Increment 1 field to GA-ASI and Anduril last April, as the service moves to a possible competitive production decision on CCA Increment 1 in fiscal 2026 (Defense Daily, Apr. 24, 2024).
“This MDS represents the first aircraft type of a YFQ designation, signaling a new era of uncrewed fighter aircraft,” Jason Levin, Anduril’s senior vice president of engineering, said in a statement. “It reinforces what we already knew. Our CCA is a high performance aircraft designed specifically for the air superiority mission, acting as a force multiplier for crewed aircraft within the real constraints of cost and time.”
