USAF Tests Anduril Jet Drone

The U.S. Air Force has started hands-on testing of Anduril’s YFQ-44A jet drone with operational airmen, not just engineers and test pilots. (af.mil) The flights were run by the Experimental Operations Unit with support from the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base in California, the Air Force said on April 16. The service said the event was designed to develop early tactics, techniques and procedures for a new class of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or pilotless aircraft meant to work alongside crewed fighters. (af.mil) A Collaborative Combat Aircraft is a drone built to fly as a teammate for a piloted jet, carrying sensors, weapons or decoys while a human crew directs the mission at a higher level. In this test, airmen operated Anduril’s YFQ-44A, a semiautonomous, jet-powered aircraft that the Air Force said can function with limited real-time pilot control. (defensenews.com) The Air Force said the exercise used “principles of the new Warfighting Acquisition System,” a push to get operators involved earlier so hardware is shaped by the people expected to use it. Lt. Col. Matthew Jensen, who commands the unit, said Experimental Operations Unit members executed the event “from start to finish.” (defensenews.com, airandspaceforces.com) The YFQ-44A is one of the Air Force’s first named Collaborative Combat Aircraft designs. The service announced in March that Anduril’s YFQ-44A and General Atomics’ YFQ-42A had received fighter-style mission designations, moving the program from generic prototypes toward operational systems. (theaviationist.com) Anduril began flight testing the YFQ-44A in October 2025, and the company said in March 2026 that it had started production on the type. Aviation Week reported this month that the Air Force’s Experimental Operations Unit began testing YFQ-44A prototypes last week to help build concepts of operation for the fleet now in development. (theaviationist.com, aviationweek.com) The service is trying to field these aircraft while rebuilding manpower. The Air Force and Space Force said on April 16 that they hit their fiscal 2026 recruiting goals five months before the Sept. 30 deadline, contracting 32,000 new active-duty airmen and guardians. (afaccessionscenter.af.mil) That total included 32,750 active-duty recruits for the Air Force and 730 for the Space Force, according to service officials cited by ABC News and Stars and Stripes. Nearly 25,000 of those recruits have already shipped to basic military training, with the rest scheduled to start by Sept. 30. (abcnews.com, stripes.com) The Air Force missed its recruiting goal in fiscal 2023, then expanded its recruiting corps and adjusted training and incentives, including enlistment bonuses that can reach $40,000. This spring’s recruiting numbers and the Edwards test put two pieces of the same plan on the board at once: more people entering the force as the service starts teaching operators how to use a new drone wingman. (taskandpurpose.com, af.mil)