Anduril's YFQ-44A Fury Expands Its Weapons Options With Air-to-Ground Munitions

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Anduril Industries used the Air & Space Forces Association's Air, Space and Cyber Symposium in National Harbor, Maryland this week to reveal two milestones for its YFQ-44A Fury Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA): a ground-based weapons integration programme covering a wide range of air-to-ground munitions, and the first confirmed formation flights of the aircraft alongside F-35 Lightning II fighters.

New imagery shared by Anduril shows the Fury's two underwing pylons loaded — via twin adaptor racks — with GBU-54 Laser JDAM bombs, GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs (SDB), and LAU-131A/A rocket pods that may be fitted with Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) guided rockets. Beyond what the images show, Anduril executives Jason Levin (Senior Vice President for Air Dominance and Strike) and Erin Simpson (Vice President for Strategy, Air Dominance and Strike) confirmed to The War Zone that integration and fit checks have also begun for 250-pound-class SDBs, external targeting pods, and low-cost cruise missiles — including Anduril's own Barracuda 500. Critically, the executives confirmed that none of these air-to-ground stores have yet been flight-tested aboard the Fury; the current work remains at the ground integration and fit-check stage, funded internally by Anduril.

The disclosures came at the same symposium where a full-scale mockup of the production FQ-44 was on display — the first public exhibition of the production-representative airframe. Aviation Week noted the mockup illustrates the evolution of the platform's external hardpoint configuration relative to the flying prototype.

On the manned-unmanned teaming front, Anduril confirmed that the YFQ-44A flew in formation alongside F-35s during a July exercise conducted with the Air Force's Experimental Operations Unit (EOU) at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada. This is the first publicly confirmed instance of live manned-unmanned teaming between Fury and a fifth-generation crewed fighter. An important distinction, however, applies: flying alongside an F-35 and being controlled by one are not the same capability. As confirmed by Levin, the latter has not yet been demonstrated. Anduril describes its near-term goal as "quarterback integration," in which a crewed aircraft will direct Fury and other autonomous platforms from within a combat formation, with tablet-based human-machine interfaces being the initial control mechanism from the crewed cockpit.

The air-to-ground weapons push arrives after the programme has already demonstrated credible air-to-air lethality. In July 2026, the YFQ-44A executed an end-to-end, beyond-line-of-sight strike against a simulated target using a live AIM-120 AMRAAM — the first weapons employment by any U.S. CCA. The Air Force's stated Increment 1 priority remains air dominance, but the range of munitions now being fit-checked suggests Anduril is actively positioning the platform for a broader mission spectrum ahead of future CCA increment decisions.

On the production side, the first Ohio-built FQ-44A rolled off the Arsenal-1 assembly line in Pickaway County on 27 July 2026. Full serial production under the June 2026 contract remains contingent on Fiscal Year 2027 budget appropriations, but Anduril has already procured long-lead components and engaged its Tier 1, 2, and 3 supplier network. The Arsenal-1 facility is designed for a maximum throughput of 150 Fury aircraft per year.

Technical Breakdown

Platform / UAV class: Uncrewed Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV); U.S. Air Force designation YFQ-44A (prototype) / FQ-44A (production). The "F" in the mission-design series marks the first time the fighter designation has been applied to an uncrewed aircraft.

Origins: Designed originally by Blue Force Technologies as a high-performance aggressor platform (successively named Grackle, REDmedium, and Fury). Anduril acquired Blue Force Technologies in 2023 and adapted the design for the CCA competition.

Airframe geometry: Fighter-like UCAV approximately half the linear dimensions of an F-16. Swept trapezoidal wings, chin-mounted air inlet, cruciform tail with stabilators, single vertical stabiliser. Length: ~20 ft (6.1 m); wingspan: ~17 ft (5.2 m).

Weight: Maximum gross takeoff weight of approximately 5,000 lb (2,270 kg).

Propulsion: Single Williams FJ44-4M turbofan producing approximately 4,000 lbf (17.8 kN) of thrust — a commercial off-the-shelf business-jet engine selected in part for its established supply chain and maintenance network.

Performance: Maximum speed approximately Mach 0.95 (transonic); service ceiling approximately 50,000 ft (15,200 m); structural load limit up to 9 g, sustained 4.5 g at ~20,000 ft.

Hardpoints (prototype): Two underwing pylons on the YFQ-44A demonstrator, currently configured for two AIM-120 AMRAAMs. The production FQ-44 is designed with four external hardpoints, supporting four AMRAAMs in the primary air-to-air configuration.

Current air-to-ground stores (fit-checked, not yet flight-tested):

• GBU-54 Laser JDAM (500-lb class guided bomb)
• GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb (250-lb class)
• LAU-131A/A rocket pods (2.75-inch / 70 mm; potentially APKWS-guided)
• Targeting pods (external)
• 250-lb-class SDB variants
• Low-cost cruise missiles, including Anduril's own Barracuda 500

Autonomy level: Semi-autonomous; Anduril's Lattice autonomy software is the primary mission autonomy stack. A February 2026 test demonstrated in-flight switching between Lattice and Shield AI's Hivemind autonomy systems without landing, validating the government's open autonomy architecture. Human operators retain weapons employment authority.

First flight: 31 October 2025, Southern California Logistics Airport, Victorville, California.

Production facility: Arsenal-1, Pickaway County, Ohio. Designed capacity: up to 150 aircraft per year. First production aircraft completed 27 July 2026.

Unit cost: Anduril executives stated cost is well below $20 million per aircraft at quantities currently contemplated by the Air Force.

Industry Impact

For Anduril: The air-to-ground weapons integration programme, entirely self-funded at this stage, gives Anduril a strategic option on future CCA increments and on potential export or multi-service markets. By running fit checks now, the company accelerates the path to flight qualification if the Air Force elects to expand the Fury's mission set. The Barracuda 500 cruise missile integration is particularly notable: it would allow Anduril to supply both the platform and the standoff munition from a single vendor, deepening its value to the Air Force.

For the CCA programme: The Air Force Chief of Staff confirmed at the same symposium that no firm decisions have yet been made on CCA Increment 2 requirements, but noted air-to-ground missions are among the options under consideration. The fit-check imagery effectively pre-positions Fury as a credible multi-role platform for that conversation. The ability to configure different CCA airframes within a single formation for different tasks — counter-air, counter-UAS, counter-cruise-missile, and strike — could become a key architectural argument for mixed-mission CCA packages.

For manned-unmanned teaming development: The F-35 formation flights represent a meaningful step from test-range autonomy toward realistic tactical teaming, but the gap between "flying alongside" and "being commanded by" is significant. Tablet-based control interfaces being explored by Anduril are a near-term bridge; full quarterback integration — where the F-35 pilot manages Fury as a dynamic tactical asset — remains a development priority. This creates a near-term opportunity for human-machine interface specialists and datalink integrators.

For the broader autonomous combat aircraft market: Anduril's willingness to self-fund a multi-role weapons integration effort ahead of any contract requirement signals competitive pressure on General Atomics' FQ-42A Dark Merlin, which is now also in serial production. The combined 150-aircraft commitment (FQ-44 and FQ-42 combined) due by 2030 under Increment 1 represents an initial market; the Increment 2 and subsequent buys — potentially 500 or more CCAs by 2032 per Air Force planning figures — are the prize. Weapons integration breadth will be a differentiating factor in those future competitions.

For investors and integrators: Arsenal-1's stated capacity of 150 aircraft per year exceeds current Air Force orders by a significant margin. Anduril has acknowledged that full production requires FY27 appropriations; until those funds flow, the facility is producing prototype YFQ-44A airframes. Tier 1 through Tier 3 suppliers that have already been engaged present integration opportunities, particularly for guidance electronics, weapons rack adapters, and datalink systems compatible with the open-architecture approach.