Northrop Grumman has flown its YFQ-48A Talon Blue prototype for the first time, opening the flight-test phase of the self-funded demonstrator for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) market.
The YFQ-48A, bearing the N444LX civil registration, completed all phases of the flight autonomously, including taxi, takeoff, maneuvers and landing, Northrop said Oct. 3. Flight tracking sites show the aircraft operated from the Mojave Air & Space Port in California, flying a mostly racetrack pattern and reaching a top speed of 233 kt. and a maximum altitude slightly over 10,000 ft.
Scaled Composites, a Northrop-owned company, built the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW545-powered YFQ-48A after the company lost in the U.S. Air Force’s CCA Increment 1 competition in 2024 to Anduril and General Atomics.
The YFQ-48A entered development internally as Project Lotus, then rebranded as Talon Blue at a formal unveiling event in November 2025. The Air Force agreed to assign the YFQ-48A military designation a month later.
“Talon Blue’s first flight is one step toward a new generation of autonomous capabilities,” said Craig Woolston, Northrop’s vice president for research and advanced design. “Every flight and lesson strengthens our broader autonomy work and sharpens what comes next.”
Northrop’s autonomy control system for the Talon Blue has been in development for several years. It was previously tested in flight with Northrop’s optionally piloted Beacon aircraft, which was formerly named the Model 437 Vanguard.
The YFQ-48A enters flight test as the Air Force considers requirements for Increment 2 of the CCA program. The YFQ-48A competes with the Anduril FQ-44, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. FQ-42 and the Lockheed Martin Vectis. Boeing, which builds the MQ-28 Ghost Bat for the Royal Australian Air Force, has not spelled out its Increment 2 plan.
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