Northrop Grumman's YFQ-48A Talon Blue Completes First Autonomous Flight
Northrop Grumman’s YFQ-48A Talon Blue completed its first fully autonomous flight on October 3, 2026, from Mojave Air and Space Port. The uncrewed aircraft, built by subsidiary Scaled Composites, successfully executed taxi, takeoff, maneuvers, and landing. This milestone advances the company’s internally funded Project Talon, which aims to provide affordable, mass-producible autonomous airpower for the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) Increment 2 program. The aircraft features a Pratt & Whitney PW500 engine, a high air intake, and an integrated weapons bay, with design innovations reducing part count by 50% and weight by 1,000 pounds compared to previous proposals.