FQ-42 Vengeance Fighter Drone Program Update

By The War Zone staff

Published Sep 16, 2026 9:00 AM EDT

It is stunning to see the impact the USAF’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program has made on discourse surrounding the future of the Air Force since it was officially announced. There is still much to prove regarding the concept, but testing is accelerating and the USAF now plans on buying 500 CCAs by 2032 . At the same time, the USAF is now hunting for a successor to the MQ-9 Reaper , with plans on procuring hundreds of those drones, as well, by early in the next decade.

With all this in mind, TWZ’s Jamie Hunter talked to Mike Shortsleeve from General Atomics on the show floor at Air, Space & Cyber 2026. The two discussed the latest progress for the company’s newly-named FQ-42 Vengeance Collaborative Combat Aircraft, as well as General Atomics’ new Wildfire platform designed to address the lower-cost Massed Modular Aircraft program that could replace the company’s iconic MQ-9 Reaper.

Check out the interview below or at the top of this post.

Contact the editor: Tyler@twz.com

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战区工作人员报道

发布于美国东部时间2026年9月16日上午9:00

自美国空军的协同作战飞机（CCA）项目正式公布以来，其对空军未来发展方向的讨论产生了令人瞩目的影响。尽管该概念仍有许多需要验证之处，但测试工作正在加速推进，美国空军计划在2032年前采购500架CCA。与此同时，美国空军也在积极寻找MQ-9“死神”无人机的继任者，并计划在下一个十年初采购数百架。

考虑到所有这些因素，TWZ 的 Jamie Hunter 在 2026 年航空航天与网络安全展 (Air, Space & Cyber​​ 2026) 的现场采访了通用原子公司的 Mike Shortsleeve。两人讨论了该公司新命名的 FQ-42 复仇协同作战飞机的最新进展，以及通用原子公司为应对低成本大规模模块化飞机计划而设计的新型野火平台，该计划有望取代该公司标志性的 MQ-9 死神无人机。

请查看下方或本文顶部的采访内容。

联系编辑：Tyler@twz.com

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