The United States Air Force announced the designation of two unmanned fighter jets on Monday, marking a historic step as the two jets are expected to be “ready to fly this summer.”
In a Monday press release, the Air Force designated the YFQ-42A, an unmanned aircraft developed by General Atomics, and the YFQ-44AA, an unmanned aircraft developed by Anduril Industries as two fighter jets under the Air Force’s Mission Design Series as part of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.
“Now we have two prototypes of Collaborative Combat Aircraft,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said. “They were only on paper less than a couple of years ago, and they are going to be ready to fly this summer.”
According to the Air Force’s press release, the two unmanned fighter jets represent “the first in a new generation of uncrewed fighter aircraft” and will be “crucial” in helping secure “air superiority for the Joint Force in future conflicts.”
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Allvin shared a picture of the unmanned fighter jets on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. The Air Force chief of staff noted that the prototypes constructed by General Atomics and Anduril Industries are “officially the first unmanned aircraft with a fighter jet designation.”
In a follow-up post, Allvin said, “Receiving a Mission Design Series designation is a big step in the military aviation world…this demonstrates incredible progress toward the @DeptofDefense’s charge to match threats to capabilities.”
Allvin added, “Translation to plain English: the most badass Air Force in the world is about to get even more lethal…Our #1 job is putting warheads on foreheads!”
According to the Air Force, the new unmanned fighter jets have been designed to take advantage of autonomous capabilities and utilize “crewed-uncrewed teaming” to defeat enemies in “contested environments.”
“For the first time in our history, we have a fighter designation in the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A,” Allvin stated. “It may be just symbolic, but we are telling the world we are leaning into a new chapter of aerial warfare. It means collaborative combat aircraft, it means human-machine teaming. We are developing those capabilities thinking, ‘mission first.’”
In Monday’s press release, the Air Force noted that it will continue to work with its partners to conduct thorough testing and evaluation of both the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A fighter jet prototypes. The Air Force emphasized that the testing and evaluation will be “crucial” to the future of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program and will reinforce the U.S. military branch’s “position at the forefront of airpower innovation.”
Source: American Military News