General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has announced its partnership with Spirit Defense, a Boeing Company, to support airframe production of the new FQ-42 Vengeance Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).
In June, GA-ASI won a contract from the US Air Force (USAF) to produce FQ-42. Spirit Defense’s role as a fuselage design-build partner brings together the company’s engineering and advanced manufacturing capabilities to support the program from design through production.
GA-ASI has been the sole manufacturer of its line of UAS — which includes MQ-9A Reaper, MQ-1C Gray Eagle, MQ-20 Avenger, and MQ-9B SkyGuardian/SeaGuardian — since the company’s inception in 1992.
“We’re excited to be working with Spirit Defense,” GA-ASI President, David Alexander, said. “We’ve established our proven design, development, and manufacturing capability for the FQ-42. With Spirit Defense we add capacity, which is exactly the kind of production resilience our U.S. Air Force customer is looking for with its CCA ramp-up. This kind of partnership represents the scalable industrial base the Air Force and the U.S. Department of War are looking for from industry.”
FQ-42 is a purpose-built, uncrewed fighter, developed with USAF as part of ongoing investment in next-generation semi-autonomous combat aircraft.
“We’re proud to bring deep manufacturing expertise and proven capabilities to this important program,” president and CEO of Spirit Defense, Keith Schrader, said.
“Our team understands the responsibility that comes with supporting critical national defense programs, and we’re ready to deliver for our customer and the warfighter.”
According to GA-ASI, around the world, the company is in discussions with numerous international militaries interested in its Gambit Series of modular CCAs.
The Gambit Series is a family of uncrewed combat jets, derived from its work on FQ-42, XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station, and MQ-20 Avenger, and optimised for roles such as electronic warfare, suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD), Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses (DEAD) and stand-off precision strike.