How the Air Force Is Seeding the Future of Collaborative Airpower
Born in the lab and built for scale, the Air Force’s first collaborative combat aircraft mark the opening move in a new era of airpower. Emerging directly from AFRL programs, these modular, low-cost uncrewed platforms reflect a deliberate shift toward rapid iteration, shared architectures, and exponential growth in capability. What begins with two aircraft is designed to evolve into a diverse family of collaborative systems shaping the future fight.
Transcript
00:00:01 The first aircraft chosen by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center for its collaborative combat aircraft acquisition program were two vehicles that trace their routes to AFL aerospace vehicle development programs. The first vehicle was the XQ67A which was part of the lowcost attractable aircraft platform sharing program or LCAPS. And the idea
00:00:24 behind LCAPS is the same kind of thinking that automobile manufacturers use where they may have a common chassis, drivetrain, and engine which are then used to build pickup trucks, sedans, and SUVs, thereby reducing cost and maintaining supply chains for production. The XQ67A was designed and built with the same type of philosophy, and it first flew in February of
00:00:49 2024. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center selected two designs for the initial cadre of the collaborative combat aircraft acquisition program. General Atomic's entry, now designated the YFQ42A, uses the same LCAPS chassis as the XQ67, thus putting this modular approach into action.
00:01:14 The second vehicle chosen was the Anderil Industries Fury and the initial design for this came from AFL's Bandit program which involved Forks and the Aerospace Systems Directorate. The need behind the Bandit program was to create an uncrrewed adversary air vehicle to help train fighter pilots. And the YFQ44A shares basic shaping and configuration
00:01:37 with the Fury designed for Bandit, but scaled up in a few key areas to better fit mission needs. And so the first two collaborative combat aircraft ordered by the Air Force came directly out of AFRL programs. And they represent only the first line of vehicles and the start of what is to come for the future of flight.
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