F-47's loyal wingmen drones ‘huge deal' for US 6th-gen air dominance programme
Paris Air Show this week, with an official from one maker confirming their development was focused on the Indo-Pacific.
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Jackson Lingane, communications manager at Anduril Industries – a major supplier of unmanned platforms to the US Air Force – said that once commissioned, its YFQ-44 known as Fury, was likely to be deployed in flashpoints that included the Taiwan Strait.
'[The US Air Force] has been very transparent, it is focused on Indo-Pacific fights,' he said. 'One of the reasons Anduril Industries is here at the Paris Air Show is we think the science and shape applied in Fury also has a lot of application for European allies.'
The YFQ-44 is included in the Increment 1 package of weapons for the F-47 sixth-generation fighter jet and its collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) drones that are in development as part of the US Air Force's next-generation air dominance (NGAD) programme.
At the General Atomics booth, another full-scale model was on display – of its YFQ-42A drone that is also part of the NGAD's Increment 1 programme.
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