Autonomy Just Flew Itself: Northrop's Talon Blue Takes Off With No One Aboard

Northrop Grumman has put its Talon Blue in the air for the first time under its own control, with no pilot in the loop. The Air Force carries the airframe on its books as the YFQ-48A. It is one of the airframes under consideration for the service's CCA effort, which pairs uncrewed jets with crewed fighters. For anyone who has sat through an avionics briefing on where single-pilot and eventually unpiloted operations are headed, this is the kind of sortie that moves the conversation from slide decks to flight logs.

With reporting from Flying.