SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA / ACCESS Newswire / August 27, 2025 / The YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft, designed and developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), is now conducting flight testing in coordination with the U.S. Air Force. This historic achievement continues the company’s rapid creation of new, jet-powered uncrewed platforms chartered by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to achieve air dominance while being designed for rapid production, in large quantities, at an affordable price.
“What a great moment for the U.S. Air Force and for GA-ASI,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “It’s been our collaboration that enabled us to build and fly the YFQ-42A in just over a year. It’s an incredible achievement and I salute the Air Force for its vision and I salute our development team for delivering yet another historic first for our company.”
The YFQ-42A is GA-ASI’s newest uncrewed jet, focused on air-to-air semi-autonomous operation and based on the genus-species concept pioneered on the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS). Using state-of-the-art, model-based digital engineering, GA-ASI was able to accelerate its schedule while optimizing air dominance capabilities. YFQ-42’s autonomy core has been trained across more than five years of flight testing using GA-ASI’s jet-powered MQ-20 Avenger®, an aircraft no other company has. The integrated capabilities of a stealthy, air-to-air-focused uncrewed jet, combined with a learned AI autonomy core, provide warfighters with a definitive advantage in the future fight.
The GA-ASI program has focused on creating a high-rate production environment that enables USAF to reach its goal of producing more than 1,000 CCAs on an accelerated timeline. Ground testing for YFQ-42A began in May.
USAF selected GA-ASI in April 2024 to build and fly a fully production-representative Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). In March, USAF designated the aircraft the YFQ-42A, with the “Y” indicating a production-representative aircraft (“Y” will be dropped upon entering production), “F” signifying a fighter aircraft, and “Q” denoting an uncrewed aircraft.
GA-ASI has developed more than two dozen different types of uncrewed aircraft and delivered more than 1,200 units to customers, building more than 100 aircraft per year at its 5 million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Poway, Calif. GA-ASI aircraft have amassed nearly 9 million total flight hours; more than 50 GA-ASI aircraft are aloft around the world every minute of every day.
About GA-ASI
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., is the world’s foremost builder of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Logging nearly 9 million flight hours, the Predator® line of UAS has flown for over 30 years and includes MQ-9A Reaper®, MQ-1C Gray Eagle®, MQ-20 Avenger®, and MQ-9B SkyGuardian®/SeaGuardian®. The company is dedicated to providing long-endurance, multi-mission solutions that deliver persistent situational awareness and rapid strike.
For more information, visit www.ga-asi.com.
Avenger, EagleEye, Gray Eagle, Lynx, Predator, Reaper, SeaGuardian, and SkyGuardian are trademarks of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. registered in the United States and/or other countries.
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Contact Information
GA-ASI Media Relations
asi-mediarelations@ga-asi.com
(858) 524-8101
SOURCE: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
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