Earlier this month, both the US Air Force (USAF) and the manufacturers of the two current designs for unmanned wingmen drones (Collaborative Combat Aircraft, CCA), which are intended to support future manned combat aircraft, provided further insights into the development status.

Newcomer Anduril, founded by Palmer Luckey – a controversial but influential entrepreneur who is often referred to as the “Elon Musk of the US defense industry” – has been much more active in the public relations work surrounding its YFQ-44A Fury model than its more established competitor to date General Atomics with its YFQ-42A design.

Luckey recently granted the US news program “60 Minutes” exclusive access to his plant in California and allowed a closer look at Fury. A few days earlier, he appeared at a TED Talk – typically in a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and flip-flops – and presented his overall vision for a possible future war with China, the weaknesses of the US armed forces and the crucial role of artificial intelligence. With provocative clarity, he said: “I like killer robots …” For him, AI autonomy is not a “Pandora’s box”, but the solution.

However, the Fury design on display also raises questions. The drone is based on a platform originally developed as a jet target drone by Blue Force, a company acquired by Luckey. The slim fuselage, in particular the area behind the central air intake under the fuselage (“chin”), appears to contain no or only a very small internal weapons bay, as far as can be seen from the angles released.

This is in contradiction to the recent stealth requirement recently emphasized by USAF Chief of Staff General Allvin. Both drone designs are primarily intended to operate in a kind of “advance fighter” role against a numerically superior opponent in aerial combat. External weapon mounts – which massively increase the radar signature – would be counterproductive. If, for example, the F-47 (-> New details on the F-47 from Boeing) has a frontal radar reflecting surface of only 0.001 square meters, this low RCS value should also apply to the CCAs.

In this context, the wider fuselage of the General Atomics YFQ-42A drone – even if no images of the underside are yet available – could be better suited to accommodate at least two air-to-air missiles such as HALFRAAM, CUDA or Peregrine. Research into these weapon systems has been underway since 2018.

Skepticism about the Anduril approach

Palmer Luckey’s unconventionally offensive public relations work is polarizing. In US aviation and defense forums, it is critically noted that Anduril is “very good at producing action-packed videos that stage their systems like in a Call of Duty campaign”. However, there are doubts as to whether these will prove themselves in practice.

The development and evaluation of systems worth billions for the US military are usually carried out in the utmost secrecy – especially in view of concerns about Chinese espionage. According to critics, a manufacturer with an open marketing approach is more likely to receive limited government contracts.

However, Anduril has already been awarded a relevant government contract in the field of drone defense – for example with the Roadrunner system, which was procured by the US Marines, among others.

The USAF plans to test both types of drone in initial test flights this year. A decision is to be made by 2026 as to which of the two manufacturers – or possibly both – will be awarded the contract to produce the first 1,000 CCAs as part of “Phase 1”. These are to be made available primarily for future missions in the Pacific region.

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