Unmanned wingmen: Drones fire air-to-air missiles, rewriting air combat rules

The US Air Force's YFQ-44A Fury drone, developed by Anduril Industries, fired its first live AIM-120 AMRAAM missile.

The live-fire test at Edwards Air Force Base marked the first missile launch by a US Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).

Anduril's Lattice software enabled autonomous mission execution, including target-data ingestion, operator tasking, and launch.

The Fury is part of the first CCA phase alongside General Atomics' YFQ-42A Dark Merlin, which is expected to test later this year.

CCAs are designed to support manned-unmanned teaming, performing kinetic, electronic warfare, and reconnaissance missions to reduce risk to piloted aircraft.