Anduril’s YFQ-44A completes first live-fire missile test in US Air Force CCA programme
The US Air Force’s race to develop Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) to extend the reach, mass, survivability, and awareness of its fighter jets took another incremental step. For the first time, Andruil and the Air Force unveiled that the YFQ-44A is now performing live-fire tests.
Andruil carries out live-fire YFQ-44A tests
Yesterday, Andruil posted a video captioned, “New test footage: first missile shot from YFQ-44A. YFQ-44A executed an end-to-end, beyond-line-of-sight strike against a simulated target. The test, executed out of Edwards AFB , represents an important step in turning CCA into an operational capability.”
New test footage: first missile shot from YFQ-44A.
— Anduril Industries (@anduriltech) July 15, 2026
YFQ-44A executed an end-to-end, beyond-line-of-sight strike against a simulated target.
The test, executed out of @EdwardsAFB, represents an important step in turning CCA into an operational capability. pic.twitter.com/70cRIs6uXJ
Meanwhile, the Air Force added that the live-fire testing involved an AIM-120 missile against a digital target over the Mojave Desert. It was carried out in coordination with the 412th Test Wing’s Air Dominance Combined Test Force.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach said, “This live-fire test is an important next step in the development of Collaborative Combat Aircraft,” and added that the aircraft is moving closer to entering service.
The F-22 Raptor is set to be the first fighter jet to receive CCAs starting around 2029.
FQ-44A rapidly progressing through the developmental cycle
The milestone highlights the rapid pace of development of the FQ-44A, with the programme continuing to “move with pace and break traditional procurement molds…”
The Air Force adds that this is part of a phased test progression that began with inert carriage evaluations that focused on collecting in-flight data to verify the aircraft’s handling. Those tests were carried out earlier this year.
Following those tests, subsequent evaluations examined the data link integration between the YFQ-44 and the weapon system. These made sure that operator commands were executed precisely in a simulated environment.
According to the Air Force, a foundational principle of the CCA programme is keeping a human in the loop. The CCA will not autonomously employ weapons, with the decision to release weapons being exclusively the decision of a human operator.
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The Air Force is pushing initial Increment 1 capability
The development comes after the Air Force formally awarded Increment 1 engineering, manufacturing and production contracts for the CCA programme to General Atomics for the FQ-42A and Anduril for the FQ-44A.
The Air Force has plans to purchase over 150 CCAs by the end of the decade. Currently, the effort is with Anduril and General Atomics to rapidly bring the CCA concepts into initial operational service.
From there, the Air Force plans to develop its much more demanding Increment 2 requirements to be much more useful in a high-end conflict while dealing with the massive distances of the Asia-Pacific.
Increment 2 is to be essentially a new aircraft. More than 20 companies remain eligible to compete.
Alongside the aircraft, the Air Force has selected Anduril, RTX Collins Aerospace (Sidekick), and Shield AI (Hivemind) to compete to provide the open-architecture mission autonomy software that serves as the aircraft’s “brain“. The software is intended to remain platform-agnostic and operate across different CCA designs.
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman did not win Increment 1 production contracts, but they remain as vendors looking to win Increment 2 contracts. For that, Lockheed is developing its higher-end Vectis while Northrop has its YFQ-48A Talon.
Featured Image: US Air Force
