The future of autonomous airpower: Collaborative Combat Aircraft in the Royal Australian Air Force

Photo caption: Artist rendering of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ CCA

Aerospace leaders are gathering in Australia for the Avalon International Airshow against a backdrop of ever-growing uncertainty about the outlook for world security. One thing is certain: traditional ways of doing business won’t work anymore.

Consider the old orthodoxy about airpower: advanced nations are slowing—even pausing—efforts to develop new generations of crewed fighter aircraft and potentially other types as well. These platforms and the big expensive programs behind them have become so cumbersome and costly, against an increasingly unpredictable threat environment and uncertain returns on investment, that even the large U.S. Services have been forced to reconsider their plans from just two years ago.

How will tomorrow’s adversaries fight? With technology changing so quickly, what’s the right mix of crewed and autonomous aircraft needed to meet future requirements amid shrinking national budgets? These are key questions the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and others might consider for their future force structure.

To highlight the path to autonomous aircraft, it is instructive to analyze initiatives underway in the U.S. regarding the future fighter force. The path, alongside the prospective development of a major new marquee fighter, is highlighted by the development of the YFQ-42A designed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI).

This aircraft is the first in a series of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), highly autonomous armed jets that can operate independently or with other uncrewed and crewed aircraft. On its own, CCA is an extremely effective platform for air warfare. When operating in formations or paired with a crewed aircraft, it has the potential to redefine airpower strategy.

With air-to-air munitions on board, CCA is designed to be as effective against hostile aircraft as a legacy fighter. With a high degree of independent operation thanks to its onboard autonomy, it doesn’t need an always-on satellite or radio data link to be controlled by a remote human pilot. This enables it to operate in contested environments, even where communication networks are compromised.

With no human pilot on board, CCA can take risks that wouldn’t be possible for legacy crews—especially in an era when fighters and pilots are increasingly scarce. It can patrol ahead of crewed platforms, establish first contact and, if necessary, fire the first shots, all while keeping aircrews safely out of harm’s way.

The USAF coined a novel “FQ” designation for the new series of aircraft led by the YFQ-42A. The “Y” denotes that the initial aircraft are production-representative first copies ahead of a full-production program, much as the YF-22 preceded the final F-22 Raptor, among other examples.

“F” describes a fighter and “Q” means the system is unmanned. “FQ” is new and different, for a purpose-designed unmanned fighter, as opposed to the prefix “QF,” which describes an aircraft that has been modified to remove the need for a pilot. The QF-16s, for example, are retired fighters used as test and target aircraft.

The FQ-42 transforms airpower not only by the absence of onboard personnel but also by the CCA’s advanced capabilities and inexpensive mass. Additionally, the aircraft can be produced rapidly in large quantities. GA-ASI’s CCA features a common core design—similar to an automobile chassis—that can be adapted to meet specific customer needs, whether as a baseline model or a highly customized platform.

Photo caption: Artist rendering of GA-ASI’s Gambit 4 variant

The YFQ-42A is highly common with a predecessor aircraft, the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station, which was commissioned as a test platform by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The XQ-67A validated the concept for a highly modular, highly producible fighter and has recorded a number of test flights as both the U.S. Air Force and GA-ASI gain experience with this unique category of warplanes.

The continued reduction of risk and the continued improvement in producibility and efficiency mean that allied air forces can procure FQ-42As in large quantities and incorporate specific refinements or upgrades as required. Its software and modular design make onboard upgrades easy, ensuring the aircraft is scalable, versatile, and highly future-proof—unlike a conventional fighter.

Allied air forces are nearing the limits of what is practical when it comes to investing in expensive next-generation crewed aircraft. This makes now the ideal time to leverage a new autonomous platform that both complements and enhances what crewed aircraft can do. And GA-ASI’s CCA, starting with the YFQ-42A, is leading the way in this revolution.