These are all the Collaborative Combat Aircraft currently in development and testing

The U.S. Air Force is ready to pull the trigger on fielding the world’s first operational AI-piloted drone fighters as soon as next year, according to the Pentagon’s recent budget request.

For 2027, the U.S. Air Force is looking to buy a billion dollars’ worth of new Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCA drones. Meanwhile it will also invest roughly another $2 billion into developing new drone capabilities and the next tranche of even more capable drone fighters that will be produced in the future.

While the CCA drones may pack fighter-like capabilities, their acquisition model is very different from what we’ve seen out of modern fighter programs.

In the past, fighter designs would compete with one another – sometimes on paper, sometimes in real-world fly-offs – for a winner-takes-all contract.

But CCA drones are different: These lower-cost assets aren’t being designed to push the limits of aviation technology and dominate for decades to come, but rather to produce known capabilities at scale. Their modular designs and software architecture are built around an emphasis on capacity, and the understanding that technology is changing faster than ever.

Let’s run through all of the collaborative combat aircraft, or AI-enabled drone fighters, that we know are already in active development and testing for their chances at operational service.

General Atomics’ YFQ-42 Dark Merlin

A YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft takes off during flight testing at a California test location. The aircraft was developed in partnership with General Atomics as part of the Air Force’s effort to accelerate delivery of affordable, semi-autonomous aircraft. (Courtesy photo)

The first and most notable on this list are Anduril’s YFQ-44 Fury and General Atomics’ YFQ-42 Dark Merlin. Both have already made the leap out of developmental testing, and one or both of these drone platforms is expected to receive a serial production contract for operational service within the next year.

The YFQ-42 builds off of decades worth of drone experience from General Atomics – the firm behind legendary uncrewed aircraft like the MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper, and the lesser-known experimental platform XQ-67, among others. That XQ-67, itself, served as the initial testbed for YFQ-42 development.

The first production representative prototype of the stealthy YFQ-42 Dark Merlin combat drone took flight in August 2025. Since then, several more have been built and added to the flight testing regime, though one crashed shortly after take-off recently.

The YFQ-42 first demonstrated its ability to operate on its own using third party Collaborative Mission Autonomy software produced by Collins Aerospace in February 2026, taking simple commands from a nearby ground station and then executing them autonomously for more than four straight hours. This came just a few months after General Atomics demonstrated the ability to seamlessly transition between first- and third-party autonomy systems, using an MQ-20 Avenger.

Anduril’s YFQ-44 Fury

Anduril’s YFQ-44 Fury, also in direct competition for Increment One of the CCA program, is a much smaller aircraft overall that the Dark Merlin, with a wingspan nearly half the size.

This fighter drone started its development cycle as an aggressor drone designed to simulate the air combat performance of top-tier adversary fighters like China’s J-20 and Russia’s Su-57 for American pilots to train against. In 2023, Anduril purchased Blue Force Technologies, the firm developing Fury, and transitioned the drone to its current role.

The first production-representative prototype of Fury took flight in November 2025. In February 2026, the YFQ-44 was spotted flying while carrying inert AIM-120 AMRAAMs (which are mounted externally) for the first time. Later that same month, it was announced that Fury had flown autonomous operations under the control of Shield AI’s Hivemind.

Northrop’s YFQ-48 Talon Blue

Northrop Grumman’s YFQ-48A Talon Blue drone. (Northrop Grumman)

Northrop Grumman’s YFQ-48 Talon Blue seems to have matured out of the company’s crewed stealth aircraft demonstrator, the Model 437 Vanguard, that first took flight in August 2024. The Talon Blue, was only the third CCA drone in history to be given a formal designation, getting the YFQ-48 moniker in December 2025.

Details about Talon Blue are still very limited, but we know that it was redesigned, after Northrop was passed up for Increment One of the CCA contract, to make it simpler, less expensive, and easier to build. It’s expected to begin flight testing very soon.

While this drone is not competing for Increment One of the CCA contract, it’s all but certain that we’ll see it competing for subsequent increments. Notably, Northrop describes Project Talon, which produced the YFQ-48, as a “portfolio” of autonomous aircraft, suggesting that it may be aiming to field a variety of drone aircraft.

Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat

The MQ-28 Ghost Bat (right) with an Australian F-35. (Boeing via Commonwealth of Australia)

Another very mature entry comes from Australia, in Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat.

The first of eight Block 1 prototype Ghost Bats took flight in February 2021. By November 2024, that prototype fleet had expanded to eight airframes that had already accumulated roughly 100 hours of real-world flight testing, along with 20,000 additional hours of testing in all-digital environments.

At roughly 38.5 feet long with a nearly 24-foot wingspan, the MQ-28 is said to offer “fighter-like” performance and a high subsonic top speed.

In December 2025, it was reported that an MQ-28 had coordinated with a Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail and F/A-18 Super Hornet to shoot down an airborne target using an AIM-120 AMRAAM for the first time.

Construction of the first Block 2 MQ-28s for more advanced testing, with a simplified wing layout, a new GPS-assisted inertial navigation system, and expanded avionics began in January 2025.

Related: Australia’s first collaborative combat aircraft is closer to full operational deployment

XQ-58A Kratos Valkyrie

The XQ-58A Kratos Valkyrie demontrator on its inaugural flight, March 2019. (U.S. Air Force)

Another aircraft that’s already been in testing for years is the XQ-58A Kratos Valkyrie that’s been flying since 2019.

The Valkyrie is capable of being launched from a single point via rocket, eliminating the need for long, well-manicured runways for take-off, or via a runway using a wheeled chassis that the drone leaves behind. The Valkyrie stretches roughly 30 feet long, with a 27-foot wingspan and the ability to carry 600 pounds worth of munitions or other hardware internally, and another 600 pounds externally. Its reported range is roughly 3,000 nautical miles.

Envisioned as a borderline-disposable (often called attritable) asset, the Valkyrie can carry small diameter bombs internally to engage targets on the ground and has already demonstrated its ability to deploy “launched effects” or smaller drone systems in the same fashion. There are also currently electronic warfare variants of this platform in testing, with a great deal of interest coming from the Marine Corps.

Lockheed Martin’s Vectis

Artist’s rendering of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works’ Vectis, a Group 5 survivable and lethal collaborative combat aircraft (CCA). (Lockheed Martin)

Then we have Lockheed Martin’s much higher-end Vectis drone, which was instead designed as all-in multi-role drone fighter capable of performing just about any mission modern fighter aircraft perform.

The specifics of Vectis are, however, pretty tough to come by. Skunk Works president OJ Sanchez described it as a Group 5 uncrewed aerial system – meaning that it weighs more than 1,320 pounds and operates at altitudes above 18,000 feet. Sanchez did, however, state that the Vectis is smaller than an F-16 Fighting Falcon.

The Vectis sports a stealthy Lamda-Delta wing and dorsal-mounted air intake with an S-duct behind it and exhaust shrowding near the back, as shown in a brief cutaway in a Lockheed video.

This all points toward taking pains to reduce both radar and infrared detectability, while the dorsal-mounted intake may suggest a high operating altitude, with most adversary fighters and air defenses broadcasting their radar from below, where the intake won’t impact radar return. Lockheed aims to start flight testing in 2027.

Related: Not all drones are created equal: The five different groups of drones and how to counter them

Shield AI’s X-BAT

Rendering of X-BAT drones. (Shield AI)

One of the most exotic options making its way through development is Shield AI’s X-BAT. This is the only CCA drone we know of so far that’s being designed to carry an afterburning engine – which it will use to conduct tailsitting vertical take-offs and landings.

At 26 feet long, 39 feet wide, and 4.74 feet tall, the X-BAT is much bigger than CCA drones in testing today and even has a wider wingspan than the F-16 or F-35. Yet, Shield AI says you can fit three X-BATs in the deckspace of one carrier fighter thanks to their tail-sitting design.

This platform is expected to offer a 1,150-mile combat radius and pull a maximum of 4Gs in the fight. The firm expects to start limited flight testing by the end of 2026.

Feature Image: A YFQ-44A production representative test vehicle is staged in a testing chamber at Costa Mesa, Calif. The YFQ-44A, developed by Anduril, is one of two production representative test vehicles which 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. (Courtesy photo)

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