General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) welcomes the U.S. Air Force’s designation for its Collaborative Combat Aircraft: the new uncrewed jet fighter will be called the YFQ-42A—this announcement followed an earlier USAF decision in 2024 that GA-ASI was selected to develop and build the YFQ-42A.
The Air Force selected YFQ-42A as the Mission Design Series (MDS) for GA-ASI’s CCA prototype, representing the first in a new generation of unmanned fighter aircraft. YFQ-42A will be critical in securing air dominance for the Joint Force in future conflicts, leveraging autonomous capabilities and crewed-uncrewed teaming to defeat enemy threats in contested environments.
The U.S. Air Force is developing Autonomous Collaborative Platforms to maintain its air superiority. Semi-autonomous aircraft, such as the YFQ-42A, will enhance flexibility, affordability, and mission effectiveness. YFQ-42A will enhance air superiority as a flexible, affordable force multiplier. It is designed to integrate seamlessly with current and next-generation crewed aircraft, expanding mission capabilities and ensuring continued air dominance. In short, YFQ-42A provides fighter capacity – affordable mass—at a lower cost and on a threat-relevant timeline.
The YFQ-42A designation follows the U.S. Air Force’s decision to designate GA-ASI’s highly common predecessor aircraft as the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station. The XQ-67A was ordered by the Air Force Research Lab to support the development of concepts necessary to implement the vision for CCA.
In the U.S. Air Force system, an “X” plane is designed for testing and experimentation, while “Y” describes initial production-representative aircraft, usually ahead of a formal program. “F” is for fighter and “Q” designates an uncrewed aircraft. Once the production-representative aircraft moves into production, the “Y” will drop from the prefix.
“We’re proud to get a new official aircraft designation,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “YFQ-42A continues a long and distinguished history for GA-ASI that dates back to the 1990s and the debut of the RQ-1 Predator®, which later changed to MQ-1 Predator.
That uncrewed aircraft gave way to the MQ-9A Reaper®, the MQ-20 Avenger®, our new MQ-9B SkyGuardian® and SeaGuardian®, and many others. These aircraft represent an unrivaled history of capable, dependable uncrewed platforms that meet the needs of America’s warfighters and point the way to a significant new era for airpower.”