{"id":24025643,"date":"2026-09-22T10:57:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T08:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fq-42-vengeance-formation-f-35a-f-15e-photo-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T15:24:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T13:24:30","slug":"fq-42-vengeance-formation-f-35a-f-15e-photo-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/fq-42-vengeance-formation-f-35a-f-15e-photo-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"FQ-42 Vengeance Flies Formation With an F-35A and an F-15E"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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On the left, an F-15E Strike Eagle in Nellis test markings, tail code OT. In the middle, an F-35A. On the right, something with no cockpit, no canopy, no pilot: a General Atomics FQ-42 Vengeance, sitting in formation as though it belonged there.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>GA-ASI released the image on Monday. It is the first time the company has shown its collaborative combat aircraft flying alongside crewed American fighters, and it is the sort of picture that does more work than a press release ever could. For thirty years the standard photograph of air power has been a formation of fighters. This is that photograph with one of the seats removed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>It also needs a careful caption, because what it shows and what people will assume it shows are two different things.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f2f4f7;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:18px 22px;margin:26px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117;letter-spacing:.02em\">Quick Facts<\/p><table style=\"border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px;line-height:1.55\"><tbody><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">What was released<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#0d1117;font-weight:600\">A GA-ASI photograph of an FQ-42 Vengeance flying in formation with an F-35A and an F-15E<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">When released<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#0d1117;font-weight:600\">Monday 21 September 2026<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">When flown<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#0d1117;font-weight:600\">Not disclosed by GA-ASI; likely during summer 2026<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Where the aircraft live<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#0d1117;font-weight:600\">Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, with the USAF Experimental Operations Unit<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Manufacturer<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#0d1117;font-weight:600\">General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Sibling aircraft<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#0d1117;font-weight:600\">FQ-44 Fury, built by Anduril<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">First flight<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#0d1117;font-weight:600\">YFQ-42 prototype, 27 August 2025<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">USAF target<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#0d1117;font-weight:600\">500 collaborative combat aircraft by 2032, 1,000 by the end of the decade<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Flying alongside is not the same as being commanded<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>This is the distinction that gets lost every time one of these photographs appears, and it matters more than any airframe detail.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The FQ-42 in that formation was not being tasked by the F-35. Both the Vengeance and Anduril's FQ-44 Fury are currently flying on their own mission autonomy systems, sharing the battlespace with crewed fighters, other CCAs and other traffic. What the photograph shows is coexistence: an uncrewed aircraft holding station safely in the same piece of sky as two manned fighters, which is itself far from trivial.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The collaborative part, where a pilot in an F-35 assigns a task and an uncrewed wingman executes it, is the next step. It requires hardware and software that are still being tested. Anduril has said the first live-flight demonstrations are expected within weeks or months. Until then, these are two aircraft flying near each other very competently.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"max-width:550px;margin:0 auto 28px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?id=2102051265316520205&theme=light\" style=\"width:100%;height:420px;border:none;overflow:hidden\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The photograph came attached to a more prosaic announcement: a new FQ-42 had been delivered to Creech Air Force Base in Nevada on 18 September. Both types now live there, working with the Air Force's Experimental Operations Unit, and GA-ASI's vice president of advanced programs was in no mood to undersell the pace.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><em>&ldquo;The CCA program&rsquo;s rate of progress has been incredible. Every week, the Air Force is pushing forward with new and more impressive accomplishments using Vengeance. It&rsquo;s amazing to think of how far this program has come in such a short amount of time.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Mike Atwood<\/strong> &mdash; Vice President of Advanced Programs, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/yfq-42a-vengeance-landing-creech-afb.jpg\" alt=\"A US Air Force YFQ-42A Vengeance on approach to Creech Air Force Base, Nevada\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A YFQ-42A descending into Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, on 22 July 2026. Note the serrated inlet lip and the short, sharply tapered V-tails. US Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jake Jacobsen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What the Vengeance actually is<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The FQ-42A is built for semi-autonomous air-to-air work, and it descends from the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station by way of an approach GA-ASI calls &ldquo;genus-species&rdquo;: a common chassis, different missions bolted on top. The company describes it as a fifth-generation uncrewed fighter with an internal weapons bay and features designed for low observability.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Put the XQ-67 and the YFQ-42 side by side and the changes are all about the radar return. The engine air inlet gained serrated edges, a treatment familiar from the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/b-2-spirit\/\">B-2 Spirit<\/a>. The shovel-shaped nose of the XQ-67 became something more conventional. The wings picked up more sweep, more taper and more area. The V-tails kept a similar angle but got shorter, more sharply tapered, and lost their clipped tips.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The other half of the aircraft is the autonomy core, which has been refined across more than five years of flying on the MQ-20 Avenger as a surrogate. That is the part that will eventually let an <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-35-lightning-ii\/\">F-35 Lightning II<\/a> pilot say &ldquo;go look at that&rdquo; and have it happen.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Four flying, one lost<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The first YFQ-42 flew on 27 August 2025. A second followed on 31 October. GA-ASI has not published a fleet count, but at least four airframes are visible in recent photography, and one was lost in an incident in April 2026. For a programme moving this fast, on an aircraft deliberately designed to be affordable enough to risk, that is roughly the attrition you would expect.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The names settled recently too. The Air Force confirmed Anduril's internal name Fury for the FQ-44, but overruled GA-ASI on the FQ-42, discarding &ldquo;Dark Merlin&rdquo; in favour of Vengeance. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, announcing them, also raised the numbers: 500 collaborative combat aircraft by 2032, out of 1,000 planned by the end of the decade. Earlier this summer the stated goal had been &ldquo;over 150 combat capable CCA by the end of the decade&rdquo;.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>That is not a revised estimate. That is a tripling of ambition inside a single year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why this photograph, now<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Anduril did the same thing a week earlier. During the Air, Space &amp; Cyber Conference it released a picture of an FQ-44 Fury prototype flying alongside an F-35, and noted that the flight had taken place during an exercise in July. GA-ASI has not dated its own formation flight, though the same summer is the obvious guess.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Two competitors releasing near-identical images within a week of each other is not a coincidence, and it is not really aimed at aviation enthusiasts. It is aimed at the people who write budgets. A photograph of an uncrewed aircraft holding formation with an F-35 is the most economical possible argument that this programme is real, flying and worth another tranche.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>It works, too. Whatever you think of the strategy, the picture is genuinely startling if you grew up on fighter formations. The Vengeance is smaller than the manned aircraft, cleaner, and entirely blank where a canopy should be.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The bit that still has to be proved<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Everything shown so far is the easy half. Making an uncrewed aircraft fly safely near manned fighters is an engineering problem with a known shape. Making a pilot with a helmet full of information hand a task to an autonomous wingman, in a fight, under time pressure, and trust the result, is a different order of problem, and no photograph settles it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The Air Force has been laying groundwork elsewhere. In August it evaluated Portable Command and Control Enclave ground stations for CCAs at Springfield Air National Guard Base, hosted by the Ohio Air National Guard's 178th Wing, with the aim of controlling these aircraft from austere locations rather than fixed facilities.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Production contracts for both types came months ahead of schedule this summer, and both designs dropped the &ldquo;Y&rdquo; prefix that marked them as prototypes. They are no longer experiments. They are aircraft the Air Force intends to buy by the hundred, and the next photograph anyone wants to see is the one where the F-35 is giving the orders.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wDk_XbTuuw4\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:-14px 0 24px;font-style:italic\">TWZ interviews General Atomics about the FQ-42 Vengeance at the Air, Space &amp; Cyber Conference, September 2026.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#666;font-style:italic;margin-top:26px\">Sources: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, The Aviationist, TWZ, Air Force Times, the US Air Force, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center.<\/p>\n\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What is the FQ-42 Vengeance?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The FQ-42A Vengeance is General Atomics\u2019 collaborative combat aircraft for the US Air Force: an uncrewed, semi-autonomous fighter designed for air-to-air work. The company describes it as a fifth-generation uncrewed fighter with an internal weapons bay and features intended to reduce its radar signature.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did the FQ-42 Vengeance fly with an F-35 and an F-15E?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. General Atomics released a photograph on 21 September 2026 showing an FQ-42 Vengeance prototype in formation with an F-35A Lightning II and an F-15E Strike Eagle. The company did not disclose when the flight took place, though it was probably during summer 2026.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Was the FQ-42 being controlled by the F-35 in that formation?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">No, and the distinction matters. Both the FQ-42 and the FQ-44 currently fly on their own mission autonomy systems while sharing airspace with crewed fighters. Being tasked by a crewed aircraft is the next milestone; Anduril has said the first live-flight demonstrations are expected within weeks or months.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Where are the FQ-42 and FQ-44 based?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Both types operate from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, working with the US Air Force\u2019s Collaborative Combat Aircraft Experimental Operations Unit. A further FQ-42 was delivered to Creech on 18 September 2026 for continued test and evaluation flying.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many collaborative combat aircraft does the US Air Force want?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink has said the service intends to field 500 collaborative combat aircraft by 2032, out of 1,000 planned by the end of the decade. Earlier in 2026 the stated goal had been more than 150 combat-capable CCAs by the end of the decade.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>When did the YFQ-42 first fly?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The first YFQ-42 prototype flew on 27 August 2025, with a second aircraft following on 31 October 2025. At least four airframes have appeared in recent photography, and one was lost in an incident in April 2026.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What is the difference between the FQ-42 Vengeance and the FQ-44 Fury?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">They are competing designs for the same Increment 1 requirement. The FQ-42 Vengeance is built by General Atomics and descends from the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station; the FQ-44 Fury is built by Anduril. Both are now in production and both fly from Creech.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is the FQ-42 Vengeance?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The FQ-42A Vengeance is General Atomics\u2019 collaborative combat aircraft for the US Air Force: an uncrewed, semi-autonomous fighter designed for air-to-air work. The company describes it as a fifth-generation uncrewed fighter with an internal weapons bay and features intended to reduce its radar signature.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did the FQ-42 Vengeance fly with an F-35 and an F-15E?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. General Atomics released a photograph on 21 September 2026 showing an FQ-42 Vengeance prototype in formation with an F-35A Lightning II and an F-15E Strike Eagle. 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At least four airframes have appeared in recent photography, and one was lost in an incident in April 2026.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is the difference between the FQ-42 Vengeance and the FQ-44 Fury?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"They are competing designs for the same Increment 1 requirement. The FQ-42 Vengeance is built by General Atomics and descends from the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station; the FQ-44 Fury is built by Anduril. Both are now in production and both fly from Creech.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fq-42-vengeance-fq-44-fury-usaf-500-cca-2032\/\">FQ-42 Vengeance and FQ-44 Fury: USAF Wants 500 CCAs by 2032<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fq-42a-fq-44a-cca-serial-production-arsenal-1-2026\/\">America\u2019s First Fighter Drones Roll Off the Line<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/nato-allied-collaborative-combat-aircraft-usafe-interoperability-2026\/\">NATO\u2019s Drone Wingmen: USAFE Prepares for Allied CCAs<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General Atomics released the first photo of its FQ-42 Vengeance holding formation with crewed US fighters. It is not being commanded by them. Not yet.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":24025366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[664,670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24025643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-aviation","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>FQ-42 Vengeance Formation With F-35A and F-15E | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first FQ-42 Vengeance formation photo with crewed US fighters. 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