The US Department of the Air Force (DAF) has demonstrated airborne tactical control of a YFQ-44A Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) from an F-22 Raptor.
The test, conducted earlier this month, involved an F-22 pilot directing a single YFQ-44A using high-level tactical commands.
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The aircraft’s onboard autonomy software translated those instructions into flight manoeuvres and simulated combat activity in real time.
The demonstration is intended to support the US Air Force’s efforts to develop and assess mission-autonomy software for crewed and uncrewed aircraft.
Data from the event will be used in further software integration, developmental testing and the service’s future CCA concepts.
The Air Force has not disclosed the specific manoeuvres or simulated combat tasks performed by the YFQ-44A. It also did not provide details of the autonomy software used during the flight.
The trial involved personnel from the 412th Test Wing, the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron, the 309th Software Engineering Group, the Experimental Operations Unit, the F-22 System Programme Office and the CCA Software Autonomy and Teaming Branch.
The F-22 pilot acted as an airborne “quarterback”, issuing broad instructions rather than directly controlling each movement of the YFQ-44A.
The arrangement is intended to allow the crewed aircraft to direct autonomous systems while retaining responsibility for higher-level tactical decisions.
US Air Force secretary Troy Meink said: “This achievement demonstrates what is possible when we are aligned with industry on a shared imperative: delivering capability to the warfighter at unprecedented speed.
“We are driving urgency into every part of acquisition from rapid integration and flight learning to disciplined assessment, so we can turn promising technology into combat capability at the pace the threat demands.”
The CCA programme forms part of the wider Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme, which aims to introduce significant numbers of autonomous uncrewed aircraft, officially termed CCAs, to operate alongside fifth- and sixth-generation crewed fighter jets.
The service intends to field 500 combat-ready, semi-autonomous systems by 2032, within a planned overall fleet of 1,000 aircraft.
According to budget documents released by the Pentagon comptroller, the Air Force is asking $996.5m for CCA procurement in fiscal 2027. A further $150m is earmarked for advance procurement supporting 2028.
