The US Air Force has fired a weapon from a collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) for the first time, marking a major milestone in the service’s effort to field autonomous wingman drones.
Conducted over restricted airspace in the Mojave Desert, the live-fire test involved an AIM-120 missile integrated into Anduril’s YFQ-44A. Active-duty personnel, government officials, and industry partners oversaw the event to validate the system’s safety and performance.
The trial followed a series of incremental tests, including flights with representative weapon loads and successful communication between the aircraft and its onboard weapon system to verify command execution before progressing to live munitions.
Read the full story on our new publication, The Drone Front: US Air Force Fires First Live Missile From YFQ-44A Wingman Drone
