{"id":23204939,"date":"2026-09-18T10:59:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T08:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/usaf-cca-drones-emerald-flag-first-large-force-exercise-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T11:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T09:00:25","slug":"usaf-cca-drones-emerald-flag-first-large-force-exercise-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/usaf-cca-drones-emerald-flag-first-large-force-exercise-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"CCA Drones Head to Emerald Flag in Their First Real Exercise"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The U.S. Air Force has been flying its fighter drones for over a year. It has tested them, taxied them, launched them from austere strips and flown one alongside an <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-35-lightning-ii\/\">F-35<\/a>. What it has never done is put them into a proper war.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In December, it will. Collaborative Combat Aircraft are going to Emerald Flag, and for the first time they will be part of a large-force employment exercise rather than a test card.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The officer running that effort described it, with some understatement, as dipping a toe.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:17px;color:#1a1a1a\">Quick Facts<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>What:<\/strong> First large-force employment exercise involving USAF Collaborative Combat Aircraft<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Exercise:<\/strong> Emerald Flag, hosted by the 96th Test Wing at Eglin AFB, Florida<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>When:<\/strong> December 2026<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> General Atomics FQ-42A Vengeance and Anduril FQ-44 Fury prototypes<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Unit:<\/strong> Experimental Operations Unit, Nellis AFB, Nevada<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Announced by:<\/strong> Lt. Col. Lyndon &ldquo;OTTO&rdquo; Bartlett at AFA 2026, 15 September<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Mission:<\/strong> Integrating into a combined fourth and fifth-generation offensive counter air push<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Maintenance so far:<\/strong> A one-to-one maintainer-to-aircraft ratio, which the unit calls &ldquo;crazy small&rdquo;<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why an Exercise Is a Bigger Step Than a Test Flight<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>A test flight answers whether the aircraft works. An exercise answers whether anybody can use it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Emerald Flag has been run by the 96th Test Wing at Eglin since 2020, and it has always leaned heavily on networking and command and control rather than on shooting things. That makes it the obvious place to find out whether a drone can be told what to do by a human in another aircraft, in a crowded sky, while everyone is busy.<\/p>\r\n\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;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;We have not yet done a large-force employment with these for real. The first one is going to be Emerald Flag. That&rsquo;s in December. That&rsquo;ll be our first tip dip of the toe in an actual force integration.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Lt. Col. Lyndon &ldquo;OTTO&rdquo; Bartlett<\/strong> &mdash; Director of Operations, Experimental Operations Unit, Nellis AFB, at AFA 2026<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Bartlett was more specific about what will be attempted: the first live end-to-end demonstration of a CCA kill chain, and the first time the drones are folded into a combined fourth and fifth-generation offensive counter air push. His own assessment was that it will be small.<\/p>\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-lifts-off-flight-test-california.jpg\" alt=\"A YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft lifting off during a flight test in California\" 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 lifts off during a flight test at a California range in August 2025. The type first flew barely a year after work began. USAF photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Point Is Trust, Not Technology<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The interesting thing about Bartlett&rsquo;s framing is what he thinks the exercise is actually for. Not proving the datalink works. Proving that a fighter pilot will believe it does.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be small, but those type of building blocks are where I think you get the intangibles like trust in the CCA. Those learnings are going to be just as valuable as the technical, does the radio work properly? Does the button I push to say &lsquo;target&rsquo; work properly?&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Lt. Col. Lyndon &ldquo;OTTO&rdquo; Bartlett<\/strong> &mdash; Experimental Operations Unit, on what Emerald Flag will teach<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>This is the recurring theme whenever American officers talk about autonomous aircraft. The engineering problem is largely solved. The problem of a human being willing to hand a weapon-carrying machine a task and then look away is not, and it does not get solved in a simulator.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Which is not to say the simulator is useless. Bartlett described a feedback loop where the operators sit with the programmers and changes land immediately, or on the next software build. That is how the autonomy gets good. The exercise is how it gets believed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Surprise: They Are Easy to Look After<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Buried in the same panel was a number that matters more than most of the programme rhetoric.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1a7f37;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been pleasantly surprised. The jets are extremely easy to maintain. We&rsquo;re at a one-to-one maintainer-to-airplane ratio, which is crazy small.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Lt. Col. Lyndon &ldquo;OTTO&rdquo; Bartlett<\/strong> &mdash; On maintaining the CCA prototypes<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>One maintainer per aircraft. A modern fighter needs a great deal more than that. The unit also found that essentially any Air Force specialty can be trained to generate sorties and load weapons on these aircraft, because the machines are simpler and their job is narrower.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>That is the whole economic argument for CCAs in one sentence. If the aircraft is cheap and one person can turn it, you can put it somewhere with a runway and very little else. The Experimental Operations Unit has already run two rounds of Agile Combat Employment testing this year, at Edwards in April and Creech in July, working on exactly that.<\/p>\r\n\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\/zmUrEP0ET6w\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777\">General Atomics footage of YFQ-42A flight testing conducted with the U.S. Air Force.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What Is Not in the Exercise<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>One clarification worth making. Boeing&rsquo;s MQ-28 Ghost Bat already flew in a large-force exercise this year, Valiant Shield 26, and the Experimental Operations Unit was involved. But the MQ-28 was built for the Royal Australian Air Force and is not formally part of the U.S. Air Force&rsquo;s CCA programme.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Emerald Flag in December is the first time American CCAs, the FQ-42 and FQ-44 the Air Force actually intends to buy, go into that environment. The service confirmed in June that its initial operational fleet will be a mix of the two, and it now wants at least 500 of them by 2032.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Five hundred aircraft is a serious air force. It is worth remembering that the first time any of them will fly in a proper exercise is three months from now, and that the officer running it expects it to be small.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: U.S. Air Force; Air &amp; Space Forces Association 2026 Air, Space &amp; Cyber Conference; TWZ; General Atomics<\/em><\/p>\r\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>When will U.S. Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft first fly in a large exercise?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">In December 2026, at Emerald Flag. Lt. Col. Lyndon Bartlett of the Experimental Operations Unit confirmed at the AFA 2026 conference that this will be the first large-force employment exercise involving USAF CCAs.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What is Emerald Flag?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Emerald Flag is a test exercise series hosted by the 96th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, first run in 2020. It focuses heavily on aerial networking architectures and command and control, and is not limited to the air domain, with other U.S. military branches regularly taking part.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Which drones are in the Air Force CCA programme?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The General Atomics FQ-42A Vengeance and the Anduril FQ-44 Fury. The Air Force announced in June 2026 that its initial operational CCA fleet would be a mix of the two types, and it now plans for at least 500 aircraft by 2032.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many maintainers does a CCA need?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Experimental Operations Unit reports a one-to-one maintainer-to-aircraft ratio, which its director of operations described as surprisingly small. The unit also found that essentially any Air Force specialty code can be trained to generate sorties and load weapons on the aircraft.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Is the MQ-28 Ghost Bat part of the U.S. Air Force CCA programme?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">No. Boeing\u2019s MQ-28 Ghost Bat was developed for the Royal Australian Air Force and is not officially part of the U.S. Air Force CCA programme, although it did take part in the Valiant Shield 26 exercise earlier in 2026 with Experimental Operations Unit involvement.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why does trust matter so much for Collaborative Combat Aircraft?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Because crewed aircrew have to be willing to assign tasks to an autonomous aircraft and then concentrate elsewhere. Air Force officers consistently describe that confidence as foundational, and it can only be built in realistic environments rather than in simulation.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"When will U.S. Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft first fly in a large exercise?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"In December 2026, at Emerald Flag. Lt. Col. Lyndon Bartlett of the Experimental Operations Unit confirmed at the AFA 2026 conference that this will be the first large-force employment exercise involving USAF CCAs.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is Emerald Flag?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Emerald Flag is a test exercise series hosted by the 96th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, first run in 2020. 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Air Force officers consistently describe that confidence as foundational, and it can only be built in realistic environments rather than in simulation.\"}}]}<\/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\/yfq-44a-fury-air-to-ground-munitions-fit-check-2026\/\">YFQ-44A Fury Fit-Checked With Air-to-Ground Bombs and Rocket Pods<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/cca-collaborative-combat-aircraft-red-flag-kendall-2026\/\">Collaborative Combat Aircraft at Red Flag<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>USAF Collaborative Combat Aircraft will join a large-force employment exercise for the first time at Emerald Flag in December, in a combined fourth and fifth-generation push.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":23204568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[664,670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23204939","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 v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>CCA Drones at Emerald Flag: First Real Exercise | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"USAF Collaborative Combat Aircraft join a large-force exercise for the first time in December. 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