The U.S. Air Force has demonstrated airborne tactical control of an Anduril YFQ-44A Fury Collaborative Combat Aircraft from an F-22 Raptor. Conducted during the week of 5 October at Edwards Air Force Base, California, the test saw the fighter pilot direct a pre-production Fury through a tactical data link while its autonomy system executed flight manoeuvres and simulated combat tasks.
The F-22 and YFQ-44A took off from Edwards and joined up in flight. Acting as an airborne “quarterback”, the pilot transmitted high-level tactical directives and an updated mission plan to a single Fury rather than manually flying the uncrewed aircraft. Onboard software interpreted the commands and carried out the assigned actions in real time.
The demonstration was the first in-flight tactical-control test involving an F-22 and a pre-production YFQ-44A. It followed earlier formation testing between the Fury and an F-35, although those sorties did not include airborne tactical commands. Personnel from the Air Force’s 412th Test Wing, 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron, 309th Software Engineering Group, Experimental Operations Unit, F-22 System Program Office and CCA Software Autonomy and Teaming Branch supported the event alongside Anduril.
The Air Force will use data from the test for software integration, developmental testing and future CCA operating concepts. The longer-term objective is to enable one crewed-fighter pilot to direct multiple uncrewed aircraft, increasing combat mass and reach without requiring manual control of each platform. Anduril described the several-hour mission as successful, while details of the aircraft configuration, simulated scenarios and tactical data-link architecture remain undisclosed.