General Atomics has delivered an FQ-42 Vengeance collaborative combat aircraft to Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, where the unmanned jet will continue test and evaluation operations, according to a company announcement issued Monday. The delivery took place Friday, one week after the U.S. Air Force formally gave the aircraft its Vengeance designation.
The aircraft is intended to support experimentation with collaborative combat operations. General Atomics said the FQ-42 has already flown alongside F-35 and F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft in preparation for operations in which autonomous aircraft work with manned fighters. The company also identifies an internal weapons bay, low-observability features and survivability enhancements among the aircraft’s capabilities.
Testing alongside crewed fighters
The Creech delivery follows an Agile Combat Employment exercise conducted at the base two months earlier with Anduril’s FQ-44 Fury, another aircraft being developed for the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program. That exercise allowed airmen to conduct sorties and develop initial tactics and procedures for integrating CCAs into military operations. Anduril has not announced which Air Force base will host Fury.
General Atomics Vice President of Advanced Programs Mike Atwood said in the company release that the Air Force was making new advances with Vengeance each week and described the program’s progress as rapid. His comments were not accompanied by additional operational details.
Production capacity and funding
General Atomics said it has completed a new low-observable paint facility to provide additional manufacturing space for CCA production. The company said it is on track to deliver six aircraft per month. It is also financing Vengeance production while government funding plans mature, an approach the company said is intended to avoid delivery delays.
The Air Force’s fiscal 2027 request included $996.5 million in procurement funding for the CCA program. The request also includes $150 million in advanced procurement for the following fiscal year and $1.37 billion for continued research and development, bringing the total program request to $2.37 billion.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said during the 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference that the service expects to have at least 500 autonomous aircraft in service by 2032. He said those aircraft would perform many missions currently carried out by manned fighters, while special operations forces would also be able to employ thousands of autonomous one-way attack systems.
