General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
is moving into the ground testing stage of development on the YFQ-42A production-representative test vehicle for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program in preparation for its prepared first flight later on this summer.
Ground testing started May 7.
The YFQ-42A is an interesting next step for our company, said GA-ASI President David R.
Alexander.
It reflects several years of collaboration with the U.S.
Air Force of advancing unmanned combat aviation for the United States and its allies all over the world, and were excited to start ground screening and relocate to first flight.YFQ-42A represents the third uncrewed jet type developed by GA-ASI.
Our internally moneyed MQ-20 Avenger made very first flight in 2009 and has completed more than 40,000 flight hours, presently acting as a jet-powered CCA surrogate for autonomy development and important improvements in artificial intelligence and machine learning integration.Chief of Staff of the U.S.
Air Force Gen.
David Allvin composed in an accompanying post on X.THE WORLDs FIRST LOOK AT OUR NEW YFQ-42A! As the @DeptofDefense matches risks to abilities under @SecDefs [Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseths] management, Collaborative Combat Aircraft will prove not just cost-effective, but genuinely lethalNo doubts these uncrewed fighters will put our enemies on notice!Our XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) jet made very first flight in 2024, the result of years of collaboration with the U.S.
Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to design an autonomous collective platform with a common chassis or genus that might pivot quickly to several objectives and various aircraft species.
The XQ-67As platform-sharing technique leverages best practices from the automotive market to create a system style with lower cost and faster integrate in mind.A pioneer in unmanned aerospace innovations, GA-ASI has actually established more than 2 dozen different airplane types and provided more than 1,200 systems to clients, constructing more than 100 airplane annually at its 5 million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Poway, Calif.
Our aircraft have actually generated nearly 9 million total flight hours all over the world, with more than 50 GA-ASI aircraft flying every minute of every day.Source: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.