U.S. DARPA Advances X-68A LongShot Toward First Flight to Extend Air-to-Air Missile Range.

DARPA announced February 17, 2026, that its LongShot program, now designated X-68A, has cleared major technical milestones ahead of planned flight tests later this year. The air-launched uninhabited vehicle could expand how the U.S. Air Force projects air-to-air combat power in highly contested airspace.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said February 17, 2026, that its LongShot program, now designated X-68A and developed with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., has cleared a new round of technical milestones, advancing the air-launched uninhabited vehicle toward first flight tests projected before the end of 2026. Ground and integration testing are underway as DARPA shifts the effort from experimental concept to operationally relevant prototype, with the aim of enabling U.S. Air Force aircraft, and potentially allied fleets, to deploy air-to-air weapons from standoff distances in contested environments where survivability and magazine depth are increasingly strained.
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In its operational configuration, the X-68A is designed to carry air-to-air missiles internally or semi-recessed, depending on final design choices (Picture source: General Atomics)

LongShot is built around a relatively simple but operationally disruptive idea. An uninhabited aircraft is carried aloft by a larger host platform, then released at standoff range to fly ahead of crewed fighters and engage adversary aircraft with its own air-to-air missiles. By pushing the missile launch basket forward without exposing pilots to the densest layers of enemy air defenses, the concept aims to extend engagement geometry while reducing risk to high-value assets such as the F-15 Eagle. The X-68A designation marks a step beyond purely conceptual studies and signals entry into a structured flight-test phase.

Recent program achievements include full-scale wind-tunnel testing and successful trials of the parachute recovery system and weapons-release mechanism. Wind-tunnel campaigns at facilities such as the Arnold Engineering Development Complex validate aerodynamic stability across expected flight envelopes, including transonic regimes typical of fighter carriage and release. These tests are critical to ensuring safe separation from the host aircraft, particularly when carried under a wing pylon of an F-15 operating at medium to high subsonic speed. The parachute recovery system, meanwhile, enables controlled descent and retrieval during early test phases, allowing engineers to examine airframe loads and subsystem performance without sacrificing the vehicle after each sortie.

The weapons-release system has also undergone captive-carry and ejection testing. In its operational configuration, the X-68A is designed to carry air-to-air missiles internally or semi-recessed, depending on final design choices. Air-to-air missiles such as the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) typically offer engagement ranges exceeding 100 kilometers in optimal conditions, guided by active radar seekers that allow fire-and-forget employment. Integrating such weapons onto an air-launched uninhabited platform requires precise management of separation dynamics, datalink connectivity, and seeker activation timelines. Demonstrating safe ejection of a captive sub-munition during ground and early flight tests is therefore a necessary precursor to live-fire events.

The X-68A is intended to be host-platform agnostic. Although the initial flight demonstrations will involve the F-15, the architecture is conceived to allow carriage by other fighters or bombers and even deployment as a palletized munition from mobility aircraft. A palletized approach, similar in concept to roll-on roll-off strike packages tested under other U.S. programs, would allow cargo aircraft to release LongShot vehicles from their rear ramps, expanding the number of platforms able to contribute to air superiority missions. Such flexibility hinges on standardized mechanical interfaces and secure datalinks capable of maintaining connectivity between the uninhabited vehicle, its launching aircraft, and broader command and control networks.

LongShot aligns with evolving distributed architectures in which sensors, shooters, and decision nodes are decoupled but digitally connected. The uninhabited vehicle would rely on off-board targeting data provided by the launching fighter, airborne early warning platforms, or other networked assets. Secure, jam-resistant datalinks are essential to transmit mid-course updates to missiles like the AMRAAM until their onboard active radar seekers take over in the terminal phase. This network-centric approach allows the crewed aircraft to remain outside the most lethal surface-to-air missile envelopes, which in peer conflict scenarios can extend beyond 200 kilometers for advanced long-range systems.

The introduction of an air-launched uninhabited shooter alters engagement calculus. Instead of committing manned fighters deep into contested airspace to achieve favorable missile kinematics, commanders could release X-68A vehicles forward of the main formation. These platforms would compress the distance to hostile aircraft, expanding the no-escape zone of their missiles and complicating adversary defensive maneuvering. At the same time, they would act as expendable or recoverable assets, absorbing risk that would otherwise fall on scarce fifth-generation fighters. Constraints remain, including limited onboard fuel, dependence on resilient communications, and the need for clear rules of engagement when operating in coalition airspace.

The program draws on a broad ecosystem of U.S. government entities, from the Air Force Research Laboratory to the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division and several Army test organizations. This interservice participation reflects the cross-domain implications of LongShot. If validated, the concept could integrate into joint air tasking cycles and complement other initiatives aimed at dispersing combat power, including Collaborative Combat Aircraft programs that pair crewed fighters with loyal wingmen.

LongShot carries wider strategic weight. As air forces confront increasingly dense anti-access and area-denial networks fielded by near-peer competitors, the ability to project air-to-air lethality from outside traditional threat rings becomes central to deterrence. For allied coalitions, including close U.S. and Royal Air Force cooperation, an air-launched uninhabited interceptor offers a scalable method to extend reach without proportionally increasing risk to pilots. In a security environment defined by contested skies and rapid technological diffusion, the X-68A embodies a broader shift toward distributed, networked, and selectively expendable combat systems that could recalibrate air superiority doctrines in the years ahead.