Audio of this text is delivered to you by the Air & House Forces Affiliation, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their households. Discover out extra at afa.org
The Air Power is working with Collins Aerospace and Defend AI to develop the software program Collaborative Fight Plane will use to fly missions alongside manned fighters, the service revealed Feb. 12—and drone-maker Normal Atomics was fast to announce it has already flown its YFQ-42A plane with Collins’ system.
Defend AI, in the meantime, mentioned Feb. 13 it expects to begin flight testing its software program on Anduril Industries’ YFQ-44A drone “within the coming months.”
The 2 corporations are creating “mission” autonomy software program, which will enable CCAs to take complicated motion when given fundamental instructions from a pilot in a manned plane. Defend AI, for instance, famous in a launch that its system permits plane to “reroute round no-fly zones, keep away from or interact obstacles, reply to sudden circumstances, and full missions safely and successfully with out human intervention.”
That’s separate from however associated to the flight autonomy software program accountable for executing fundamental or preplanned operations, like taking off, sticking to a flight path, or touchdown.
Anduril and Normal Atomics have been publicly competing to construct the first plane for the CCA program since April 2024, and the Air Power has introduced milestones like first flights and designations.
By comparability, the competitors to construct the software program that can allow the drones to function semi-autonomously had been stored largely secret till now. Again in July 2024, officers revealed that 5 corporations have been engaged on the “mission” software program aspect of this system however declined to call them citing safety issues. Then, in September 2025, Aviation Week reported that Collins and Defend had been chosen to maneuver ahead, however no official announcement adopted.
Now, practically six months later, the Air Power has confirmed the two companies’ choice. The service launch touted the combination of each into the Autonomy Authorities Reference Structure—the open, common normal the federal government has set for mission autonomy software program that every one contractors should construct their methods to adjust to.
“Verifying A-GRA throughout a number of companions is important to our acquisition technique,” Col. Timothy Helfrich, portfolio acquisition government for fighters and superior plane, mentioned in an announcement. “It proves that we aren’t locked right into a single answer or a single vendor. We’re as an alternative constructing a aggressive ecosystem the place the most effective algorithms may be deployed quickly to the warfighter on any A-GRA compliant platform, whatever the vendor offering the algorithm.”
Collins is paired with Normal Atomics, whereas Defend AI is working with Anduril—feeding into the dynamic of “established Pentagon provider vs. Silicon Valley startup” that has outlined the GA-Anduril competitors. Collins has gone by way of numerous mergers and acquisitions however traces its roots again many years, whereas Defend AI was based in 2015 and rapidly expanded with backing from enterprise capital companies.
Shortly after the Air Power made its announcement, Normal Atomics printed its personal launch with extra particulars on the way it has already began flight testing Collins’ software program on the YFQ-42A.
Testing started earlier this month, GA’s launch states, and Collins’ software program, dubbed “Sidekick,” managed the drone for greater than 4 hours. Throughout that point, a human operator on the bottom offered “numerous instructions” to the drone and the software program interpreted these instructions and directed the plane to execute them “with excessive accuracy,” the discharge states.
GA’s launch additionally notes that since the YFQ-42A made its first flight in August 2025, the corporate has constructed and flown “a number of” plane, together with cases of “push-button autonomous takeoffs and landings”—utilizing flight autonomy software program separate from the mission software program. A picture accompanying the discharge reveals three YFQ-42s on a flightline.
Ryan Bunge, vice chairman and common supervisor for strategic protection options at Collins, mentioned in an announcement that “the fast integration of Sidekick onto this platform to carry out numerous combat-relevant duties spotlight the energy and adaptableness of Collins’ open methods method. The autonomy capabilities showcased on this flight spotlight practically a decade of devoted funding and shut collaboration with our prospects to advance collaborative mission autonomy.”
Anduril and Defend AI, in the meantime, launched their personal statements promising flight assessments with Defend’s “Hivemind” autonomy software program within the close to future—Defend’s launch states that flight demonstrations are anticipated “within the coming months,” whereas Anduril’s says the agency is trying ahead to a primary flight “very quickly.”
Defend famous in its launch that Hivemind has already operated on a number of different plane, together with Normal Atomics’ MQ-20 Avenger drone, the U.S. Navy’s BQM-177 goal drone, and Airbus’ H145 helicopter.
“Defend AI is proud to be named a mission autonomy supplier supporting the Collaborative Fight Plane program,” Gary Steele, the agency’s CEO, mentioned in an announcement. “The Air Power is shifting with urgency to discover how autonomy can reshape air fight, and we now have spent years getting ready for this—constructing, testing, and flying mission autonomy in the true world. We’ll work relentlessly to ship and to assist advance the following period of airpower alongside the Air Power and its business companions.”
Anduril, in the meantime, emphasised the YFQ-44A’s modularity.
“The plane’s easy design, exterior weapons shops, and open {hardware} and software program architectures be sure that the plane can simply be configured with a spread of mission methods, software program suites, and payloads to assist all kinds of missions,” Jason Levin, senior vice chairman of engineering, mentioned.
Audio of this text is delivered to you by the Air & House Forces Affiliation, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their households. Discover out extra at afa.org