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Our First Look At The YFQ-42 rCyFighter DronerCO Collaborative Combat Aircraft General Atomics' YFQ-42A and Anduril's YFQ-44A, the two initial CCA
designs for the Air Force, are set to fly for the first time later this
year.
Joseph Trevithick

Updated May 19, 2025 5:16 PM EDT

24
We now have our first look at an actual prototype of General Atomics'
YFQ-42A 'fighter drone.'

USAF

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We now have our first actual look at General AtomicsrCO YFQ-42A rCyfighter dronerCO prototype. The YFQ-42A, as well as AndurilrCOs YFQ-44A, are being developed under the first phase, or Increment 1, of the U.S. Air ForcerCOs Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, and both designs are
expected to make their maiden flights later this year.

Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force Gen. David Allvin shared the
picture of the YFQ-42A seen at the top of this story on social media
today. The Air Force had announced the start of ground testing of both Increment 1 CCA designs on May 1, at which time the first images of a AndurilrCOs YFQ-44A were also released.

rCLTHE WORLDrCOs FIRST LOOK AT OUR NEW YFQ-42A!rCY Allvin wrote in an accompanying post on X. rCLAs the @DeptofDefense matches threats to capabilities under @SecDefrCOs [Secretary of Defense Pete HegsethrCOs] leadership, Collaborative Combat Aircraft will prove not only
cost-effective, but truly lethalrCaNo doubts these uncrewed fighters will
put our adversaries on notice!rCY

rCLThe YFQ-42A is an exciting next step for our company,rCY David Alexander, President of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., said in a
separate statement. rCLIt reflects many years of partnership with the U.S.
Air Force of advancing unmanned combat aviation for the United States
and its allies around the world, and werCOre excited to begin ground
testing and move to first flight.rCY

What can be seen in the head-on view of the YFQ-42A we now have is
largely in line with renderings and physical models that General Atomics
has shown in the past. The design has some low-observable (stealthy)
features and shares some broad similarities with past company designs
like the Avenger. It is also notably less slender than AndurilrCOs
YFQ-44A, which could offer advantages and disadvantages.


An image of the YFQ-42A design that General Atomics had previously
released. General Atomics
General Atomics has also previously confirmed that its CCA design is
derived from the experimental XQ-67A drone originally developed for the
Air ForcerCOs once-secretive Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) program. A
core aspect of OBSS was a so-called rCygenus/speciesrCO concept, involving a core rCygenusrCO set of components from which multiple rCyspeciesrCO of differently configured drones could be crafted, lessons from which the
Air Force has said are being incorporated broadly into the CCA program. General Atomics has been further proving that concept out via its Gambit family of drones, which all feature a common rCychassisrCO that incorporates landing gear, as well as key mission and flight control computer
systems. The XQ-67A has been flying for more than a year now, offering
General Atomics a valuable risk reduction asset for its CCA work, as well.




A picture of the XQ-67A, at bottom, along with one of General AtomicsrCO stealthy Avenger drones, at top. The company has also been using the
MQ-20 to support CCA and other advanced drone developments. General Atomics Though partially obscured by the flight-test data probe, there is a
notably different colored section on the bottom of the front of the nose
with what looks to be a grill and an additional feature of some kind
above it, the purpose of which is not immediately clear. Past renderings
of the General Atomics CCA design have shown a trapezoidal window in the
same general location, a feature typically associated with
forward-facing electro-optical and/or infrared sensor systems.




A side-by-side look at the nose of the YFQ-42A prototype, at left, and
the nose of General AtomicsrCO CCA design as depicted in a past rendering. USAF/General Atomics
As TWZ has noted in the past, the position under the nose could be a
likely location for an infrared search and track (IRST) sensor. IRSTs
can spot stealthy targets and offer other benefits, and would align with
the air-to-air combat role that is expected to be the main focus of the Increment 1 CCAs, at least initially. General Atomics has been
separately using its stealthy Avenger drones to demonstrate potential air-to-air combat capabilities, including while equipped with podded
IRST systems.

AndurilrCOs YFQ-44A also notably has what appears to be a forward-facing camera system prominently on top of its nose, which could, at least, be
used to provide visual inputs for control and additional situational
awareness during initial testing. General AtomicsrCO YFQ-42A prototype
could have a broadly similar system installed in its nose.

What may be the doors for the YFQ-42ArCOs ventral payload bay are also visible, along with the dronerCOs tricycle landing gear.

Another cropped view of the prototype YFQ-42A focusing on what can be
seen of its landing gear, as well as what may be the open doors to its
ventral payload bay. USAF
rCLI think CCA can actually be, in some cases, a mobility aircraft,rCY Mike Atwood, vice president for Advanced Programs at General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), had said during a panel discussion
at the Air & Space Forces AssociationrCOs (AFA) 2025 Warfare Symposium in March. rCLOne of the reasons that GA chose to have an internal weapons bay
was for carrying not just missiles and kinetics, but to do that logistics.rCY

rCLWe showed up at these World War II leftover airfields. And we quickly realized these airfields are in really bad shape, really bad shape, and
we started to really appreciate runway distance,rCY Atwood had also said
at AFArCOs annual Warfare Symposium. rCLItrCOs hard to make a fast-moving aircraft use a lot less runway. And so what we realized is we needed a trailing-arm landing gear.rCY

A trailing-arm landing gear arrangement helps ease the impact of
landing, which in turn can help reduce wear and tear, something that is especially beneficial for operations from short and potentially rough
fields. It can also similarly help with rough field takeoffs. The Air
Force said that the Increment 1 CCAs are the first aircraft, crewed or uncrewed, to be developed from the ground up to align with its Agile
Combat Employment (ACE) concepts of operations. ACE centers heavily on short-notice and otherwise irregular deployments, including to far-flung locations with limited infrastructure. You can read more about how the
Air ForcerCOs CCA vision aligns with ACE here.

As it stands now, the Air Force is still looking to acquire 1,000 CCAs,
if not more, across a series of iterative development cycles. Service officials have previously said that between 100 and 150 Increment 1 CCAs
could be acquired, but it remains unclear whether that fleet will
consist of YFQ-42As, YFQ-44As, or a mix of both types.

rCLA competitive Increment 1 production decision is expected in fiscal
year 2026,rCY which begins on Oct. 1, 2025, the Air Force had said as part
of the announcement about the start of ground testing at the beginning
of the month.

AndurilrCOs YFQ-44A prototype. Courtesy photo via USAF
The Air Force is now in the process of finalizing requirements for
Increment 2 of CCA, which are expected to be significantly different
from those for Increment 1. In March, Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph D.
Kunkel, director of Force Design, Integration, and Wargaming and deputy
chief of staff for Air Force Futures, indicated that the second phase of
the program could call for designs that are less complex and cheaper.

More details are likely to continue to emerge about the Increment 1 CCA designs, as well as other plans for the program, as the YFQ-42A and
YFQ-44A progress through ground testing toward their first flights.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Joseph Trevithick Avatar
Joseph Trevithick
Deputy Editor
Joseph has been a member of The War Zone team since early 2017. Prior to
that, he was an Associate Editor at War Is Boring, and his byline has
appeared in other publications, including Small Arms Review, Small Arms Defense Journal, Reuters, We Are the Mighty, and Task & Purpose.



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