General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has restarted flight testing of its YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft following a roughly six-week stand-down triggered by an April mishap in California. The production‑representative drone, also known as Dark Merlin, crashed shortly after takeoff from a company‑owned desert airfield at about 1 p.m. Pacific time on April 6, according to the company and industry reports. No injuries were reported.
In an initial statement after the incident, General Atomics said it had paused all YFQ‑42A flight operations “in an abundance of caution” while assessing the aircraft’s condition and investigating the root cause. The pause affected multiple test jets that are flying as part of the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft technical maturation and risk‑reduction phase.
The company has since allowed test flying to resume, saying operations will proceed as deemed appropriate under established safety procedures. General Atomics has not publicly detailed the cause of the crash, and officials have emphasized that it remains too early to discuss specific failure modes. The YFQ‑42A is central to the Air Force’s effort to field autonomous, production‑representative drone wingmen that can operate alongside crewed combat aircraft in operational test and evaluation campaigns.