NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Anduril’s robot wingman has been slow getting off the ground because the company is aiming for a semi-autonomous first flight, company officials said Monday.
The Air Force had anticipated that Anduril would fly its prototype collaborative combat aircraft, dubbed YFQ-44 Fury, this summer, but only rival General Atomics’ rival YFQ-42A actually took off.
“The goal for Anduril is always to make this an actual semi-autonomous CCA; that’s been the emphasis since day one,” company vice president Diem Salmon told reporters at the Air & Space Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber conference near Washington, D.C. “The goal is to also get to a semi-autonomous first flight, which means takeoff and landing will be done via push of a button.”
Salmon described that decision as a way to “leapfrog” the test plan and the company is “tackling the hard part first.” While a formal flight date has not been announced, Salmon claims Anduril is “within spitting distance” of getting its CCA in the air.
Developing the software for semi-autonomous flight, and the lack of a ground control station, has led to those delays, said Jason Levin, Anduril’s senior vice-president of engineering for air dominance and strike.
“For Anduril, since we did not have a ground control station, takeoff and landing, we would have to develop that capability and so that would have had to be a new capability to develop,” Levin said. “And actually we thought it would have been a step backwards, because we really want to get to the semi-autonomous thing and bring out that problem.”
While Anduril did not provide a specific date for the first flight, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said during a reporter roundtable at the conference on Monday that Anduril’s offering should be flying by the “middle of October.”
C. Mark Brinkley, a General Atomics spokesman, confirmed that the early flights of their YFQ-42A have not been semi-autonomous, adding in an emailed statement that the contractor “understands the steps required to avoid unnecessary risks.”
“YFQ-42A is designed for semi-autonomous flight, and that’s not even in question,” Brinkley said. “This is like saying I never expected my baby to crawl, but go straight from the crib to the Air Force marathon.”
The Air Force plans to make a production choice by fiscal year 2026. The service has previously mentioned it may carry both companies to that stage.
When asked about an increment two for the CCA program, William Bailey, who is performing the duties of assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics, didn’t disclose specifics.
“We also have learned a lot from working with industry, with a wide group of companies and then narrowing it down to the two companies we’re working with now to find out what it’s like for them to take our attributes we’re looking for, turn those into real programs and actually go out and build hardware,” Bailey said. “So that is all going into informing what we think the art of the possible is, as we approach increment two.”
Ahead of the conference, Lockheed Martin announced it aimed to fly a CCA candidate of its own by 2027. Lockheed officials said Vectis is not designed to win any specific contract, but might stack up well in future CCA competitions.
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