GA-ASI marks another aviation first with YFQ-42A CCA flight testing

The YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft, designed and developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), is now conducting flight testing in coordination with the U.S. Air Force. This historic achievement continues the company’s rapid creation of new, jet-powered uncrewed platforms chartered by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to achieve air dominance while being designed for rapid production, in large quantities, at an affordable price.

“What a great moment for the U.S. Air Force and for GA-ASI,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “It’s been our collaboration that enabled us to build and fly the YFQ-42A in just over a year. It’s an incredible achievement and I salute the Air Force for its vision and I salute our development team for delivering yet another historic first for our company.”

The YFQ-42A is GA-ASI’s newest uncrewed jet, focused on air-to-air semi-autonomous operation and based on the genus-species concept pioneered on the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS). Using state-of-the-art, model-based digital engineering, GA-ASI was able to accelerate its schedule while optimizing air dominance capabilities. YFQ-42’s autonomy core has been trained across more than five years of flight testing using GA-ASI’s jet-powered MQ-20 Avenger, an aircraft no other company has. The integrated capabilities of a stealthy, air-to-air-focused uncrewed jet, combined with a learned AI autonomy core, provide warfighters with a definitive advantage in the future fight.

The GA-ASI program has focused on creating a high-rate production environment that enables USAF to reach its goal of producing more than 1,000 CCAs on an accelerated timeline. Ground testing for YFQ-42A began in May.

USAF selected GA-ASI in April 2024 to build and fly a fully production-representative Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). In March, USAF designated the aircraft the YFQ-42A, with the "Y" indicating a production-representative aircraft (“Y” will be dropped upon entering production), "F" signifying a fighter aircraft, and "Q" denoting an uncrewed aircraft.

GA-ASI has developed more than two dozen different types of uncrewed aircraft and delivered more than 1,200 units to customers, building more than 100 aircraft per year at its 5 million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Poway, Calif. GA-ASI aircraft have amassed nearly 9 million total flight hours; more than 50 GA-ASI aircraft are aloft around the world every minute of every day.