The United States Air Force has demonstrated for the first time that a pilot of F-22 Raptor can direct a drone YFQ-44A Fury from the cockpit as they both fly. The test, carried out at the beginning of October, was announced last Friday and involves a fundamental milestone in the development of the collaborative fighter aircraft programCCA for its acronym in English.
According to The War Zone, the F-22 and the aircraft Anduril They took off from Edwards Air Force Base, California, and met in flight. From the cabin, the pilot transmitted a mission plan to the Fury via tactical data link.
The pilot gave general tactical instructions that the drone’s autonomy software interpreted and executed in real timetaking charge of the necessary maneuvers to fulfill them. In addition to flight maneuvers, the drone carried out simulated combat tasks without the F-22 occupant I had to manually control every movement of the Fury.
The exact configuration used in the cockpit during this demonstration has not been revealed. During the development of the program, we have explored tablet-like touchscreen interfacesbut it has not been confirmed which device the pilot used on this occasion.
The Fury is part of the CCA program with which the Air Force seeks to develop autonomous aircraft capable of operating alongside manned fighters. These devices will increase combat capacity and expand sensor coverage without it being necessary to have a pilot on board each plane.
For the first phase of the program, the FQ-44A Fury of Anduril and the FQ-42A Vengeance of General Atomicswhose prototypes are identified with a AND before the model name. Both received production contracts in June 2026, after which testing has continued to prepare for their entry into service.
The original design of the Fury includes 6.1 meters in length, 5.2 meters wingspan and a maximum takeoff weight of approximately 2,270 kilograms. Its flight ceiling is at 15,240 meters altitude, practically reaches the speed of sound at 1,010 km/h, Mach 0.95although far from 2,390 km/h, Mach 2.25of the F-22 Raptor, and supports maneuvers of up to 9g for short periods. The manufacturing uses mainly carbon fiber composite materials and uses a turbofan engine. Williams FJ44-4M. Please note that some of these specifications may be modified during development.
As for the attack capacity, the Fury already demonstrated it in another test carried out last July. On that occasion he fired an air-to-air missile AIM-120 AMRAAM against a digital white over the Mojave Desert.
The Air Force emphasizes that the decision to use weapons will continue to rest with a human. The software can execute the launch sequence within the set parameters, but authorization to fire remains in the hands of the operator.
Although this demo was limited to a single Fury, the goal of the program is to a single pilot manages several CCAs simultaneously. To achieve this, it will be necessary to perfect the software and control interfaces, so that managing several drones is compatible with piloting the fighter itself.
The Air Force plans have 500 of these aircraft ready for combat by 2032within a projected fleet of around 1,000 units. The F-22s will be the first fighters in charge of assuming direction from the air when they enter service.