WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- General Atomics delivered an FQ-42 Vengeance aircraft to Creech Air Force Base for continued testing and evaluation.
- Vengeance has flown alongside F-35 aircraft and F-15E Strike Eagles while preparing for collaborative control operations.
- The Air Force expects to have at least 500 autonomous aircraft in service by 2032.
- General Atomics says it is on track to deliver six aircraft monthly as government funding plans mature.
- The Air Force’s fiscal 2027 Collaborative Combat Aircraft program request totals $2.37 billion.
General Atomics has delivered a new FQ-42 Vengeance aircraft to Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, placing the Collaborative Combat Aircraft at a key location for continued testing and evaluation.
The aircraft arrived Friday, according to a company release issued Monday.
It will support regular test and evaluation operations as the Air Force experiments with the new jet and explores how it could operate with other aircraft.
The delivery came one week after the Air Force officially named the FQ-42 Collaborative Combat Aircraft Vengeance.
General Atomics is moving ahead with the aircraft as the service develops its approach to autonomous combat aviation.
“Every week, the Air Force is pushing forward with new and more impressive accomplishments using Vengeance.
It’s amazing to think of how far this program has come in such a short amount of time,” Vice President of Advanced Programs Mike Atwood said in the release.
Creech’s selection followed an Agile Combat Employment exercise conducted at the base two months earlier using Anduril’s FQ-44 Fury.
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That exercise gave airmen an opportunity to conduct sorties involving another Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
Those operations also allowed personnel to begin building foundational tactics and procedures. The lessons are intended to shape how Collaborative Combat Aircraft are integrated into the broader force.
Anduril has not yet announced which Air Force base will house its FQ-44 Fury.
General Atomics, meanwhile, now has its Vengeance aircraft positioned at Creech for continued work with the Air Force.
The FQ-42 includes an internal weapons bay, low observability features and capabilities intended to increase survivability.
Those characteristics support its development as an autonomous aircraft designed to operate in demanding environments.
Vengeance has already flown alongside F-35 aircraft and F-15E Strike Eagles, according to the company statement.
Those flights were conducted in preparation for collaborative control operations involving the autonomous aircraft and manned platforms.
Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink recently said the service expects to have at least 500 autonomous aircraft in service by 2032.
The aircraft are expected to perform many of the same missions currently completed by manned fighters.
“By then, our special operators will have the ability to employ thousands of autonomous one-way attack systems, and we will have autonomous fighters like the Collaborative Combat Aircraft,” Meink said during last week’s keynote address at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference.
General Atomics is also expanding the manufacturing infrastructure behind the program.
The company said it completed a new “low-observable paint facility” intended to support Collaborative Combat Aircraft production with additional manufacturing space.
The company said it remains on track to deliver six aircraft each month. That planned pace would provide a steady flow of Vengeance aircraft while testing, evaluation and production efforts continue.
Production of Vengeance is already underway using General Atomics’ own money as “government funding plans mature,” according to the statement.
The company said that approach is intended to prevent delivery delays while federal funding plans develop.
The Air Force’s fiscal 2027 request included $996.5 million in procurement funding for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.
It also sought $150 million in advanced procurement for the following fiscal year and $1.37 billion for continued research and development.
The total program request reached $2.37 billion. With Vengeance now delivered to Creech, General Atomics and the Air Force are continuing test operations while manufacturing capacity and government funding plans advance.
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