Northrop Grumman announced the first flight of the YFQ-48 Talon Blue, the company’s internally-funded Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
Few months after the taxi tests, Northrop Grumman has now announced that its YFQ-48 Talon Blue has flown for the first time. The aircraft, the company’s internally-funded Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), completed its first fully autonomous flight, including taxi, takeoff, in-flight maneuvers, and landing.
The YFQ-48 flew from the Mojave Air and Space Port, home Northrop Grumman’s subsidiary Scaled Composites, which developed and built the aircraft. The aircraft was first unveiled there in December 2025, after being developed largely in secrecy.
YFQ-48A Talon Blue is airborne. Its first flight, including taxi, takeoff and landing, was fully autonomous. This is the latest step in our work to make autonomous airpower faster and more affordable to produce. https://t.co/YkA3YGvCdq pic.twitter.com/6g9m41ahqn
— Northrop Grumman (@NGCNews) October 3, 2026
“Our customers made it clear they need autonomous systems that can be fielded faster and more affordably without sacrificing mission effectiveness. We listened,” said Craig Woolston, vice president and general manager, research and advanced design, Northrop Grumman. “Talon Blue’s first flight is one step toward a new generation of autonomous capabilities. Every flight and lesson strengthens our broader autonomy work and sharpens what comes next.”
The company has not released additional details on the first flight, however it highlighted that the Talon Blue is part of the internally-funded Project Talon portfolio focused on accelerating the development of mission-ready autonomous airpower capabilities. The portfolio also includes the Talon IQ, formerly known as Beacon, which is based on Scaled Composites’ Model 437 Vanguard.
Been waiting for this one pic.twitter.com/eKYttSzmFK
— TaskForce23 (@Task_Force23) October 3, 2026
The new milestone follows the announcement of the completion of the autonomous taxi tests in May 2026. Similarly to the latest announcement, the company did not disclose when the testing was conducted.
YFQ-48A
Northrop Grumman first unveiled its new unmanned platform on Dec. 3, 2025, at the Mojave Air and Space Port, after developing it largely in secrecy. On Dec. 22, the U.S. Air Force has announced that it has assigned the Mission Design Series (MDS) YFQ-48A to the aircraft, which was initially known only as Project Talon.
As previously explained, this MDS defines the semi-autonomous aircraft as an unmanned fighter. In fact, YFQ means prototypes (as indicated by the ‘Y’ status prefix) of UAVs (as denoted by the ‘Q’ vehicle type code) with the intended role as a fighter (indicated by the ‘F’ basic mission).
The service said at the time that the designation “highlights the ongoing partnership between the Air Force and Northrop Grumman and acknowledges the continued progress of the YFQ-48A as a strong contender in the CCA program.” The Air Force is currently preparing to select designs for the Increment 2 of the program, with the YFQ-48A being one of the possible contenders.
The YFQ-48A joined the two other CCAs, the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A, which received the same unmanned fighter prototype designation in March 2025. These two aircraft, currently in flight testing, are part of the CCA’s program Increment 1.
Northrop Grumman initially defined the YFQ-48A as a new autonomous aircraft demonstrator built to validate faster and more affordable manufacturing methods for large uncrewed platforms. The company also described the program as a response to lessons learned from its unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) Increment 1.
Talon aimed to find the right balance between capability and cost, with Tom Jones, president of Northrop’s aeronautics systems division, saying the result was a design that is both cheaper and more capable. The aircraft features a shovel-shaped nose, long slender fuselage, low aspect ratio lambda wing planform, top mounted engine air inlet and exhaust, and canted twin tails.
The design appears optimized for high performance and agility, with low-observable characteristics also visible. Regarding the powerplant, Northrop Grumman confirmed only that Talon uses a single turbofan engine, but declined to identify the manufacturer or thrust class.
In April 2026, the company announced that Pratt & Whitney would provide the engine, specifically the PW500. The engine-maker undertook an extensive engine test program to expand the commercial limits of its PW500 engine family for Talon Blue, testing simulated flight and operational conditions unique to CCA missions.
The engine is supplied air by a trapezoidal dorsal inlet mounted above the aft fuselage, while the exhaust is positioned between the canted tail surfaces. The nose section features test instrumentation typical of early flight-test articles, including three air data probes extending forward of the radome.
The company did not comment on whether the demonstrator is intended to carry stores internally. However, a large trapezoidal panel on the underside of the fuselage could possibly indicate space for an internal bay.
