GA-ASI’s YFQ-42A production-representative CCA moves into ground testing

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) announced on 19 May 2025 that it has moved into the ground testing phase developing the YFQ-42A production-representative test vehicle for the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) programme. The ground testing, which began on 7 May, is in preparation for the YFQ-42A’s planned first flight later in the summer of 2025.

“The YFQ-42A is an exciting next step for our company,” GA-ASI President David R Alexander was quoted as saying in a GA-ASI press release. “It reflects many years of partnership with the US Air Force of advancing unmanned combat aviation for the United States and its allies around the world, and we’re excited to begin ground testing and move to first flight.”

The YFQ-42A represents the third uncrewed jet type developed by GA-ASI. The company’s internally funded MQ-20 Avenger unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which made its first flight in 2009, has completed more than 40,000 flight hours and is currently serving as a jet-powered CCA surrogate for autonomy development and critical advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning integration.

GA-ASI’s XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) jet, meanwhile, made its first flight in 2024 in partnership with the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in an effort to design an autonomous collaborative platform with a common chassis that could pivot quickly to multiple missions and different aircraft types. The XQ-67A’s platform-sharing approach leverages best practices from the automotive industry to create a system design with lower cost and faster build in mind.

The USAF’s CCA programme is intended to rapidly deploy large numbers of autonomous UAVs to team with fifth- or sixth-generation manned fighter aircraft as part of the USAF’s wider Next Geberation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme. In April 2024 the USAF selected GA-ASI, with its XA-67A (from which the YFQ-42A is derived), and Anduril’s Fury, now designed the YFQ-44A, to be developed under Increment 1 of the CCA programme. The YFQ-44A has also begun ground testing.