Drone Wingmen Progress Rapidly Through Development

Air Force leaders and industry players presented updates on the development of drone wingmen, known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft, at the Air and Space Forces Association Warfare Symposium conference. The service has begun flight testing with a weapon underwing, with Anduril’s YFQ-44A drone conducting captive carry testing with an inert AIM-120 AMRAAM missile. General Atomics’ YFQ-42A drone is expected to begin similar testing soon. Kratos, meanwhile, sees a new role as a ‘merchant supplier’ of drones to defense primes. The developments were reported by Breaking Defense.