Northrop Grumman’s YFQ-48A Talon Blue made its first fully autonomous flight over Mojave, California, the company said on 3 October. It taxied, took off, manoeuvred and landed with no pilot at the controls.
Northrop paid for Talon Blue itself, as part of a company-funded effort it calls Project Talon. The aircraft has a high air intake, a wide wheelbase and an internal weapons bay.
The Air Force has already picked its first batch. On 17 June the Air Force gave development and production contracts for Increment 1 of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the drones meant to fly beside crewed fighters, to General Atomics and Anduril. Their aircraft became the FQ-42 and FQ-44. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the plan is “over 150 combat capable CCA” by the end of the decade.
Northrop did not get a hardware contract. It got a place in the six-company pool that will compete to write the drones’ mission software, alongside Anduril, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, RTX’s Collins Aerospace and Shield AI. It was not among the three, Anduril, Collins and Shield AI, given the first paid software options.
Craig Woolston, who runs Northrop’s research and advanced design unit, said customers want autonomous aircraft “fielded faster and more affordably.” Northrop says it cut the part count and the weight to lower the cost and speed up production. It has not published a price, a range or a payload.
The Air Force plans to pick a main software supplier for the first batch by summer 2027.
