Anduril Fury Completes First Flight
Anduril Industries has announced the successful first flight of its YFQ-44A Fury autonomous fighter drone at Southern California Logistics Airport. The aircraft is one of two winning designs for Increment 1 of the United States Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, alongside General Atomics' YFQ-42A.
Fury is designed to augment crewed fighter aircraft such as the F-15EX Eagle II, F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning, and the planned Next Generation Air Dominance fighter for air to air missions through manned unmanned teaming. The aircraft operates semi autonomously, carrying out mission plans and adjusting its flight without human input while a person monitors its actions.
The YFQ-44A features a chin mounted inlet, cruciform tail arrangement with stabilators and a single vertical stabilizer, and weapons mounted on external hardpoints. The aircraft is designed to fly at up to 50,000 feet and Mach 0.95, capable of pulling a maximum of 9 g while sustaining up to 4.5 g at about 20,000 feet. It is powered by a single Williams FJ44-4M turbofan engine producing 4,000 pounds force of thrust.
Built on Anduril's Lattice software platform, Fury benefits from sophisticated AI that enables collaborative combat tactics with manned aircraft. The design prioritizes affordability and rapid production, enabling military forces to deploy capable autonomous aircraft at scale.
Fury's origins trace back to Blue Force Technologies, which Anduril acquired in 2023. The design was originally developed as an aggressor platform before being adapted for the CCA program. The aircraft achieved semi autonomous flight from clean sheet design in just 556 days, demonstrating rapid development compared to traditional military acquisition timelines.
The Air Force hopes to have CCAs fully operational before the end of the decade, with Anduril targeting mass production starting in 2026 at its new Arsenal-1 facility in Ohio.
Learn more at anduril.com/fury