C. Mark Brinkley

Rome previously ordered a handful of Reapers, but lost one of the drones in Libya in 2019, and another one was destroyed in March during an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait.

The Air Force is accelerating its timeline for a cheaper, more expendable successor to the MQ-9A Reaper after combat losses.

“There's no doubt if we try and pursue the exact same approach that we had with things like the MQ-9, we're going to get something that costs about the same as an MQ-9,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Niemi.

The status change should "shorten procurement timelines, make sustainment less cumbersome and facilitate closer cooperation between American defense companies and UAE institutions," one analyst told Breaking Defense.

“It wasn’t just an AMRAAM that came off,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach told Breaking Defense. “It was tracking the target.”

The "Massed Modular Aircraft" tender envisions an uncrewed system that can be produced in large enough quantities at a low enough cost to be considered attritable in combat. The US military's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has released a solicitation for a new low-cost, high-volume uncrewed aircraft that can perform the missions of the General Atomics

Upgrade package will enable current operators to fly MQ-9Bs with their existing terminals.

An investigation by the Air Force and the defense contractor led to a software change.

“There is, I think, a burgeoning interest across the broader defense industrial base on what comes next,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Luke Cropsey.

The company said a mishap occurred “following takeoff” today.

A YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft prototype crashed in the California desert yesterday following takeoff, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems said in a news release.

A General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) YFQ-42A collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) has crashed in California. The “mishap” occurred after the single-engined CCA took off from a company owned airport, says GA-ASI. Nobody was injured in the incident. “GA-ASI is assessing the condition of the aircraft and investigating to establish the root cause of the incident,”…

The company is competing for the Air Force’s collaborative combat aircraft.

Anduril’s YFQ-44A drone wingman under development for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program has begun testing flights with a missile underwing, according to an Air Force press release.

Anduril’s collaborative combat aircraft began “captive carry" testing last month.

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has designated General Atomics’ LongShot air-launched weapons platform as the X-68A, after what the agency calls “significant progress” on the uncrewed missile carrier designed to extend combat reach while keeping crewed aircraft at safer standoff distances.

The U.S. Army should sever its reliance on contractors rather than soldiers for supporting the special operations force’s MQ-1C Gray Eagles, an operator said.

Biometric trackers, cellphone location databases and drones are among the surveillance technologies agents are using in their immigration enforcement campaign.

The endeavors illustrate how relationships in the spheres of defense trade and other fields are deeply rooted in the fabric of American alliances.

Service leaders are looking to find industry solutions for short/vertical takeoff and landing (S/VOTL) drones, ones that don’t require a runway, in the Group 4 or above category.