F-22 pilot commands Anduril YFQ-44A Fury drone in flight for first time
The U.S. Air Force and Anduril announced that an F-22 pilot for the first time issued tactical commands in flight to a pre-production YFQ-44A Fury Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), which then flew maneuvers and carried out simulated combat tasks. TechNews reported that the test took place in early October out of Edwards Air Force Base in California, where the F-22 and Fury rendezvoused and the pilot sent an updated mission plan over a tactical data link for Fury's onboard autonomy software to interpret and execute. Tom's Hardware noted that successful command integration is only the first of several hurdles before the CCA reaches operational status, with the drone's tactical autonomy limits, safe flight control, weapons authorization, behavior under electronic interference, and logistics and deployment procedures still to be tested.
According to the reports, this is the first time a pre-production CCA air vehicle has demonstrated that a pilot's in-flight commands can be executed in real time, with the Air Force expecting the F-22 to be the first CCA command platform and aiming for one crewed fighter to manage multiple uncrewed wingmen.
美國空軍與 Anduril 近日宣布，F-22 戰機飛行員已首度在空中向預量產型 YFQ-44A Fury 協同作戰航空器（CCA）下達戰術指令，讓無人機執行機動飛行與模擬作戰任務，為無人僚機投入服役推進重要一步。
這場測試於 10 月初進行，F-22 與 Fury 從加州愛德華茲空軍基地起飛後，在空中會合，F-22 飛行員透過戰術資料鏈傳送更新後的任務計畫，由 Fury 機載自主軟體即時解讀指令，再自行執行對應的飛行動作。
在這套作戰模式下，有人戰機飛行員扮演「空中控衛」，負責下達高階戰術指令，無人機則處理具體飛行操作，美國空軍預計由 F-22 率先擔任 CCA 的空中指揮平台，未來目標是一架有人戰機能同時管理多架無人僚機。
#Anduril#YFQ-44A Fury#F-22 Raptor#U.S. Air Force#Collaborative Combat Aircraft#General Atomics#MQ-20 Avenger#Lockheed Martin#FQ-42A Vengeance#F-35