General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is partnering with Spirit Defense, a Boeing Company, to support airframe production of the new FQ-42 Vengeance Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).
In June, GA-ASI won a contract from the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to produce FQ-42. Spirit Defense’s role as a fuselage design-build partner brings together the company’s engineering and advanced manufacturing capabilities to support the program from design through production.
GA-ASI has been the sole manufacturer of its line of UAS — which includes MQ-9A Reaper®, MQ-1C Gray Eagle®, MQ-20 Avenger®, and MQ-9B SkyGuardian®/SeaGuardian — since the company’s inception in 1992. For the FQ-42 program, partnering with Spirit Defense is a strength multiplier for the company and the nation, offering manufacturing capacity and industrial depth to scale CCA production faster, while strengthening production resilience, and reducing the risk of single points of failure.
David R. Alexander, GA-ASI President, stated, “We’re excited to be working with Spirit Defense. We’ve established our proven design, development, and manufacturing capability for the FQ-42. With Spirit Defense we add capacity, which is exactly the kind of production resilience our U.S. Air Force customer is looking for with its CCA ramp-up. This kind of partnership represents the scalable industrial base the Air Force and the U.S. Department of War are looking for from industry.”
Keith Schrader, Spirit Defense president and CEO, commented, “We’re proud to bring deep manufacturing expertise and proven capabilities to this important program. Our team understands the responsibility that comes with supporting critical national defense programs, and we’re ready to deliver for our customer and the warfighter.“
FQ-42 is a purpose-built, uncrewed fighter, developed with USAF as part of ongoing investment in next-generation semi-autonomous combat aircraft. The jet’s modular design enables rapid integration of mission systems and mission autonomy software. GA-ASI’s software architecture, demonstrated through live flight tests on multiple airframes, provides the foundation for human-machine teaming in complex combat scenarios.
Potential CCA manufacturing partnerships don’t end here. Around the world, GA-ASI is in discussions with numerous international militaries interested in the Gambit Series of modular CCAs. The Gambit Series is a family of uncrewed combat jets, derived from the company’s work on FQ-42, XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station, and MQ-20 Avenger, and optimized for roles such as electronic warfare, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses (DEAD) and stand-off precision strike, making it a versatile option for evolving security needs.
Nations interested in procuring aircraft from the Gambit Series also have an opportunity to insert indigenous manufacturing into those programs, as well as integration of their own sensors, weapons and other combat technologies.
