The YFQ-42A Dark Merlin unmanned fighter being created by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) under the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) loyal wingman drone program crashed for the first time. The company reported this in its press release. This happened during the day on Monday, April 6, during the drone's takeoff from the company's airfield in the California desert.
As GA-ASI emphasizes, no one was injured during the crash. At the same time, flight tests are temporarily suspended for safety reasons. The causes of the unmanned fighter crash are currently being determined. At the same time, it's noted that it's premature to make any assumptions about the incident’s causes.
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Our focus is on gathering data and learning lessons, GA-ASI says. They note that the YFQ-42A unmanned fighter is one of several models participating in the technical refinement and risk reduction phase within the loyal wingman creation program.
Before the incident, prototypes conducted regular flights, which will continue after the company decides this is appropriate.
On one hand, the YFQ-42A unmanned fighter crash cannot be called some special case. On the other hand, for the company this may be an alarming bell, because this is the first at least publicly known crash with CCA loyal wingmen. Moreover, it happened virtually within months before the U.S. should conclude a production contract most likely, a decision will be made this summer. Earlier, broader timelines were announced within the framework of by year's end.
Moreover, it remains questionable whether the contract will be concluded with one or several companies.
The contract for developing CCA unmanned fighters was concluded at the end of January 2024. Initially, five main contractor groups received contracts Anduril, General Atomics, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, as well as Lockheed Martin. Several months later, the last two were excluded from the competition.
In March last year, the US Air Force announced creation of two drone series under CCA: YFQ-42A from General Atomics, as well as YFQ-44A from Anduril. At the same time, Northrop Grumman, which initially suffered defeat, presented its YFQ-48A under the Talon project in December last year and announced plans to participate in the second iteration (Increment II) of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.
Fighters and advanced aircraft program chief Brigadier General Jason Voorheis spoke favorably about the Northrop Grumman drone in particular: Their [referring to Northrop Grumman] approach aligns with our strategy to stimulate competition, advance industry innovation, as well as rapidly and massively deliver advanced technologies.
Transformation directorate director Colonel Timothy Helfrich noted that Northrop Grumman's project demonstrates their ability to push the boundaries of what's possible and experiment with new technologies, advancing solutions that can improve the Air Force's future.
Returning to GA-ASI’s YFQ-42A, it's also worth recalling that in February the company gave its unmanned fighter the name Dark Merlin, which is a reference to the merlin bird, which hunts in flocks. Despite being a small bird, it is known for its serious attacks.
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