February 13, 2026 at 3:14 AM
Flight tests validate mix-and-match approach to robot-wingman autonomy
The Air Force is using the A-GRA framework on its collaborative combat aircraft.
YFQ-42 aircraft sit on the flightline at a California test location as part of the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft flight test campaign. U.S. Air Force The Air Force is using a framework to test autonomy on its drone wingman prototypes, showing that multiple companies can supply hardware and software for its future collaborative combat aircraft.Using the government-owned Autonomy Government Reference Architecture, or A-GRA, the service has integrated RTX Collins software with General Atomics YFQ-42 aircraft and Shield AI’s technology on Anduril's YFQ-44 CCA, according to a Thursday news release.“By proving the architecture functions effectively across different airframes and mission autonomy from different vendors, the Air Force is demonstrating that mission software can be decoupled from specific vehicle hardware, breaking down barriers for technology integration and fostering a more competitive and innovative ecosystem,” the service said in the news release.
Col. Timothy Helfrich, the Air Force’s portfolio acquisition executive for fighters and advanced aircraft, said breaking the hardware and software out of a single company’s hands aligns with the Defense Department’s latest National Defense Strategy—which calls for “clearing away outdated policies, practices, regulations, and other obstacles” that hinder rapid weapons production. “Verifying A-GRA across multiple partners is critical to our acquisition strategy,” Helfrich said in the news release.