The test involved GA-ASI, the F-35 Joint Program Office, the 309th Software Engineering Group, the 461st Flight Test Squadron, the 370th Flight Test Squadron, Lockheed Martin and Autonodyne. GA-ASI said the MQ-20 served as a Collaborative Combat Aircraft surrogate during the event.
The F-35 remained on the ground while the MQ-20 flew during the demonstration. The aircraft were linked through beyond-line-of-sight communications, allowing the F-35 pilot to send tactical autonomy commands from a tablet in the cockpit.
The commands were relayed to the MQ-20 through a tactical proliferated low Earth orbit data link. GA-ASI said the commands directed the Avenger to conduct tactical maneuvers, adjust waypoints and pass ADS-B track data to the F-35.
The MQ-20 also sent critical autonomous responses and location, altitude and velocity data back to the F-35 pilot. The drone was equipped with GA-ASI’s TacACE Tactical Autonomy Ecosystem software, which is based on the government’s latest autonomy software architecture.
The commands used skills based on the Autonomy Government Reference Architecture, enabling rapid integration. GA-ASI said the demonstration showed that the CCA surrogate and the F-35 could use the data link for seamless coordination.
“This significant warfighter integration milestone is the beginning of operational readiness for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft and demonstrates the near-term opportunities for force integration,” said Michael Atwood, vice president of Advanced Programs at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.
“Events like these drive home GA-ASI’s continued commitment to adoption of next-generation data links, mission autonomy, and unmanned air combat operations,” Atwood said.
GA-ASI said manned-unmanned teaming, which pairs human-flown combat aircraft with highly autonomous wingmen, is central to the future of airpower. The company said the F-35 and MQ-20 event validated hardware, software, networks and other systems needed for Collaborative Combat Aircraft missions.
The MQ-20 Avenger has been used by the Air Force as a test aircraft and surrogate CCA for more than five years. GA-ASI said it has performed that role before and after the arrival of the company’s purpose-built XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station and YFQ-42A jets.
General Atomics’ contender for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program is the YFQ-42A. The company said it continues to develop and test mission-ready CCA capabilities.
The recent demonstration follows earlier tests involving the MQ-20 and the F-22. Those included an October 2025 event at the Nevada Test and Training Range and another F-22/MQ-20 flight in February at Edwards Air Force Base.
The Air Force has made the CCA program one of its top priorities and plans to buy its first drones in fiscal 2027. The service sees the systems as a way to expand its capacity for strike missions, electronic warfare, reconnaissance and other operations while reducing cost and risk.
Congress has also shown support for the CCA initiative across the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The House Armed Services Committee included several related provisions in its proposed National Defense Authorization bill released on May 26.
The tactical air and land forces subcommittee proposed requiring the secretaries of the Air Force and Navy to submit a report to lawmakers on cost impacts as they define requirements for their CCA programs. The report would be due on January 15, 2027, and would assess how efforts to reduce costs could affect CCA attributes and fleetwide operational costs.
The report could also describe how CCA programs plan to integrate commercial and modified off-the-shelf technologies to help lower costs. Lawmakers said the Air Force and Navy may need aircraft with enough range, speed and power to self-deploy from the continental United States and conduct missions for geographic combatant commanders, particularly in a potential conflict with China.
Chinese long-range weapons could make it risky to launch CCAs from the first island chain in the Pacific theater, committee members wrote. “Sufficiently bolstering forward deployed combat airpower, while keeping fleet life-cycle costs low, will require aircraft capable of reliably carrying out an array of missions over extended ranges, all while minimizing attrition,” the committee wrote.
The committee also said it “commends the effective collaboration between the Air Force and industry” on the first increment of the CCA program. The subcommittee noted that General Atomics and Anduril, the manufacturers of the first two CCA variants, conducted successful flight demonstrations in 18 months.
Lawmakers said that pace was “faster than any other major tactical fighter-like aircraft program in recent history,” while testing continues to refine the capability. They also supported the Air Force’s plan to rapidly transition the first CCA increment to production.
The subcommittee urged the Navy and Marine Corps to build on the Air Force’s work as they develop their own CCA efforts. “The Navy and Marine Corps should leverage the mature and innovative technologies and processes developed through USAF Increment 1 and the model of collaboration between the Air Force and industry to accelerate development, improve capability delivered, and reduce risks in both cost and schedule,” the air and land forces subcommittee wrote.
The draft legislation would require the Navy secretary to brief the House Armed Services Committee by December 15 on the department’s CCA acquisition strategy. The briefing would also need to explain how the Navy plans to use development strategies and technologies pioneered by the Air Force CCA program.
Sources: GA-ASI (press release), Air & Space Forces Magazine.
