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U.S. Air Force Begins AIM-120 Beyond-Visual-Range Missile Integration on YFQ-44 Fury Drone.
The US Air Force announced on 23 February 2026 that its YFQ-44 Fury Collaborative Combat Aircraft has begun captive-carry flights with an inert AIM-120 missile in Aurora, Colorado. The milestone moves the CCA program into weapons integration testing, signaling that autonomous drones are being prepared for direct air combat roles alongside manned fighters.
The U.S. Air Force confirmed that its YFQ-44 Fury, developed under the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, has begun flying captive-carry missions with an inert AIM-120 beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, marking the transition from initial flight trials to full weapons integration testing. Announced by the Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs on 23 February 2026, the milestone centers on evaluating airworthiness, structural loads, and missile compatibility as the jet-powered autonomous platform matures. By pairing a combat-configured drone with a standard front-line missile, the service is demonstrating that CCA systems are intended to operate as armed force multipliers within future fighter formations, rather than remaining limited to intelligence or sensing roles.
The U.S. Air Force’s YFQ-44 Fury autonomous jet has begun flying with an inert AIM-120 missile, marking the CCA program’s first step toward integrating live air-to-air weapons on uncrewed combat aircraft (Picture Source: U.S. Air Force)
The Air Force describes this test phase as “disciplined weapons integration and captive carry evaluations,” emphasising that the current work uses inert munitions to characterise structural behaviour, aerodynamic performance and systems interfaces before any live-fire activity is considered. In practice, this means putting the YFQ-44 Fury through a structured series of flights across its envelope, different speeds, altitudes, g-loads and manoeuvres, while carrying the AIM-120 to measure loads on the airframe, pylon, and missile and to check that sensors and mission systems operate correctly with an external store attached. Officials underline that this is the same methodical approach applied to crewed fighters, intended to generate quantitative evidence that the drone can safely carry, separate and employ weapons within defined limits.
The YFQ-44, internally known as “Fury” and developed by Anduril Industries, is one of two Increment 1 CCA air vehicles chosen to team with front-line fighters such as the F-35, F-22 and F-15EX. Roughly half the size of an F-16, Fury features a compact fighter-like configuration with swept trapezoidal wings, a chin air intake and a cruciform tail, optimised for high-g manoeuvres in the transonic regime. Powered by a single Williams FJ44-4M turbofan producing around 4,000 lbf of thrust, the aircraft is designed to reach altitudes of up to 50,000 ft, approach Mach 0.95 and tolerate load factors up to 9 g in short bursts, while sustaining about 4.5 g at typical operating altitudes. With a maximum gross take-off weight in the 5,000 lb class and a design focused on “affordable mass,” Fury is meant to provide a relatively low-cost, high-performance uncrewed asset that commanders can employ in roles that would be too risky or costly for crewed platforms.
The latest test imagery shows a YFQ-44 prototype carrying an inert AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile under its wing, reflecting a deliberate choice of baseline armament. The aircraft’s architecture includes external hardpoints capable of hosting two AIM-120s, as well as a forward mission bay designed to accept modular payloads such as active electronically scanned array radar, infrared search and track sensors or electronic warfare equipment. In captive-carry sorties, engineers focus on vibration levels, store clearance, and data-link integrity between the missile and the drone’s mission system, while flight-test teams incrementally expand manoeuvre severity to confirm safe carriage across the intended envelope. Only once this data demonstrates acceptable margins will the program move on to safe-separation evaluations and, later, live-fire events anticipated for a subsequent phase of testing.
Selecting the AIM-120 AMRAAM as the first weapon to be integrated is strategically and technically significant. AMRAAM is the standard Western beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, in service since the early 1990s with U.S. forces and more than thirty allied air arms, and combat-proven in multiple theatres. Its widespread use on front-line fighters and on ground-based systems such as NASAMS means the missile is deeply embedded in existing command-and-control structures, engagement procedures and logistics chains. By proving that a CCA platform can carry and interface with AMRAAM, the Air Force is effectively validating that the drone can plug into established kill chains and employ a weapon that pilots, controllers and allied partners already understand, while paving the way for future integration of smaller, lower-cost air-to-air weapons now in development specifically for mass-employment from uncrewed aircraft.
Although the YFQ-44 is still in early development and has no operational record, its trajectory has been rapid. Originating as a high-performance aggressor drone concept at Blue Force Technologies before that company’s acquisition, the design was reshaped into a CCA candidate and selected by the Air Force as one of two Increment 1 platforms. From clean-sheet configuration to first flight took on the order of 18 months, with flight-test activity beginning in late 2025 and now transitioning from basic envelope expansion to mission-representative trials with representative weapons loads. This pace reflects both the maturity of the design, leveraging commercially derived propulsion and modular avionics, and the Air Force’s determination to compress traditional acquisition timelines for uncrewed systems while still adhering to formal developmental-test standards.
Within the broader CCA construct, Fury is not intended to operate in isolation but as part of a networked “system of systems” in which multiple uncrewed aircraft collaborate with crewed fighters, bombers and command-and-control nodes. Senior leaders describe this as a human-machine team designed to “sense, strike and shield” friendly forces in contested environments, distributing sensors and weapons across many smaller airframes rather than concentrating them on a few exquisite platforms. In this model, YFQ-44 aircraft could be tasked as forward missile trucks, off-board sensors extending a fighter’s picture, decoys to draw enemy fire, or autonomous escorts that thicken the air-to-air screen around high-value assets. Weapons integration with AMRAAM is a prerequisite for all of these roles, demonstrating that the drone can carry frontline air-to-air missiles under realistic g-loads and manoeuvres while remaining under positive control and within established rules of engagement.
The tactical implications of this milestone are considerable. If the CCA program succeeds, future strike packages could be built around a smaller number of crewed fighters accompanied by a larger number of Fury-class uncrewed wingmen, each carrying a mix of sensors and missiles. This would complicate an adversary’s targeting problem, increase the volume of fire that U.S. and allied forces can generate early in an air campaign, and allow commanders to accept higher levels of risk with uncrewed assets in heavily defended airspace. At the same time, Air Force officials emphasise that a human operator will continue to hold the final authority over weapons release and that CCA sorties will remain embedded within existing command structures and legal frameworks governing the use of force. The current use of inert AIM-120s for captive-carry work underscores that the program remains firmly in the developmental-test domain, with transparency about objectives and constraints presented as part of a broader commitment to responsible innovation.
By moving the YFQ-44 Fury from clean-air flight trials to captive-carry tests with an inert AIM-120, the U.S. Air Force is beginning to demonstrate that its next generation of autonomous combat aircraft will be able to carry and employ the same air-to-air weapons that underpin Western air superiority today. The step is measured and tightly controlled, but it signals a clear direction of travel: uncrewed “fighter drones” are being prepared not just to scout or relay data, but to join the air-to-air fight as integral members of a networked force under human command. As weapons integration expands and live-fire events follow, the CCA program will increasingly shape how air campaigns are planned, resourced and fought, with platforms like Fury providing the mass, reach and survivability that crewed fleets alone can no longer guarantee in high-threat environments.