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Air Force

YFQ-42A Dark Merlin Resumes Flight Tests for CCA Program

Frank Wolfe

Thursday, May 21st, 2026

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YFQ-42A Dark Merlin Resumes Flight Tests for CCA Program

Pictured is a U.S. Air Force photo of Lt. Col. Matthew "Doubled" Jensen, the commander of the Experimental Operations Unit at Nellis AFB, Nev.

The General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) YFQ-42A Dark Merlin prototype drone for the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program has resumed flight testing, the Air Force and the company said on Thursday. A crash and total loss of one of the YFQ-42As on April 6 caused flight testing to stop (Defense Daily, April 7). "Even while flight testing on the YFQ-42 was temporarily paused, the program was not," Air Force Col. Timothy Helfrich, portfolio acquisition executive for fighters…

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