The United States is soon to begin airframe production of its new uncrewed fighter jet. For this, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), the world leader in Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS), has announced its partnership with Spirit Defense, a Boeing company.
The aim is to support airframe production of the new FQ-42 Vengeance Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).
Purpose-built, uncrewed fighter jet, developed with USAF
“We’re excited to be working with Spirit Defense,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “We’ve established our proven design, development, and manufacturing capability for the FQ-42. With Spirit Defense we add capacity, which is exactly the kind of production resilience our U.S. Air Force customer is looking for with its CCA ramp-up. This kind of partnership represents the scalable industrial base the Air Force and the U.S. Department of War are looking for from industry.”
FQ-42 is a purpose-built, uncrewed fighter, developed with USAF as part of ongoing investment in next-generation semi-autonomous combat aircraft. The jet’s modular design enables rapid integration of mission systems and mission autonomy software. GA-ASI’s software architecture, demonstrated through live flight tests on multiple airframes, provides the foundation for human-machine teaming in complex combat scenarios, according to a press release.
“We’re proud to bring deep manufacturing expertise and proven capabilities to this important program,” said Keith Schrader, president and CEO of Spirit Defense. “Our team understands the responsibility that comes with supporting critical national defense programs, and we’re ready to deliver for our customer and the warfighter.”
GA-ASI has been the sole manufacturer of its line of UAS — which includes MQ-9A Reaper, MQ-1C Gray Eagle, MQ-20 Avenger, and MQ-9B SkyGuardian/SeaGuardian — since the company’s inception in 1992. For the FQ-42 program, partnering with Spirit Defense is a strength multiplier for the company and the nation, offering manufacturing capacity and industrial depth to scale CCA production faster, while strengthening production resilience, and reducing the risk of single points of failure, as per the release.
The company revealed that around the world, GA-ASI is in discussions with numerous international militaries interested in Gambit Series of modular CCAs. The Gambit Series is a family of uncrewed combat jets, derived from our work on FQ-42, XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station, and MQ-20 Avenger, and optimized for roles such as electronic warfare, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses (DEAD) and stand-off precision strike, making it a versatile option for evolving security needs.
GA-ASI was selected by the U.S. Air Force in 2024 to build production-representative flight test articles for the CCA program. The YFQ-42A successfully conducted its maiden flight in August 2025, validating a “genus/species” concept for rapid, modular, and low-cost uncrewed fighter aircraft development previously demonstrated in partnership with U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
GA-ASI’s approach enables a common core aircraft design that can be rapidly adapted for different mission sets and service requirements. GA-ASI’s Gambit Series concept for CCA envisions multiple variants that serve specific needs, including long-endurance surveillance, air-to-air superiority, air-to-ground strike and more.