An F-22 Raptor pilot has directed an Anduril YFQ-44A Fury drone through simulated combat in an airborne test, according to The Defense Watch.
The pilot gave tactical commands, and the autonomous drone translated them into a series of tasks and flight maneuvers to reach the desired outcome. The test falls under the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, which aims to put uncrewed aircraft into fighter squadrons. No Air Force or Anduril statement, and no date or location for the test, accompanied the account.
The design logic is workload. A fighter pilot already flies the jet, manages sensor data, assesses threats and makes weapons release decisions, so steering a second aircraft by hand is close to impossible. Instead, the pilot assigns a task, such as monitoring for and engaging enemy air defenses, while focusing on the main mission, such as taking out enemy fighters.
Command integration is only the first hurdle. The program still has to set limits on the drone's tactical autonomy, safe flight control and weapons authorization, each tested separately. The Air Force also needs to see how the drone handles electronic interference and how it keeps operating if communications drop. Beyond that sit maintenance, weapons handling, deployment procedures and forward airbase operations with limited infrastructure.
That list is the useful part. Issuing a command is the piece that demos well; the rest is the unglamorous machinery that decides whether a squadron can actually use the aircraft. The payoff the Air Force is chasing is a force multiplier: one pilot commanding multiple jets at lower cost than an all-crewed fleet.
Sweden and China are also experimenting with a single operator commanding multiple drones. The difference with CCA, per the account, is its focus on air power rather than ground-based operations.