Navy Looks to Experience of Air Force, Marines in Developing Seaborne Drone Capability

The United States Navy’s bid to field a carrier-based, unmanned fighter drone to fly alongside its F/A-18s and F-35s may be a moment of truth for the sea service’s drone hopes.The Air Force and Marine Corps are ahead of the Navy in developing fighter drones. The Air Force’s unmanned fighter is already flying and took part in training exercises over the Nevada desert this summer. The Marine Corps is looking to have its attack drones delivered as soon as 2029. The Navy only last month asked for help designing its own unmanned fighter.But that is by design. In 2025, a Navy admiral said the service was letting its counterparts take the lead on drone development, hoping to learn and benefit from their trials and errors.“As we work together for the United States Navy, I will tell you that we are definitely in the follow of those three services as we look to see how the Air Force is developing and fielding things, quite frankly, in a more simple operational environment than what is required for a ship-based system,” Rear Admiral Michael “Buzz” Donnelly said during an April 2025 panel at the Sea Air Space conference.Within the next two years, the Navy will see if that waiting gamble has paid off.Last month, the Navy finally announced it is looking for a few good drones to dogfight alongside carrier-based, manned fighters like the F/A-18 and F-35 — a concept called “loyal wingman” that the Air Force and other countries are seeking to employ.In a request for contractors’ proposals issued on August 31, the Navy is soliciting designs for its own Combat Collaborative Aircraft, a drone designed to bring more heft to the fight and to work well in more intense combat environments over the sea.Requested cost per unmanned craft? $30 million.The Navy is currently testing the unmanned MQ-25 “Stingray” — but the MQ-25 is an aerial refueling drone, not a fighter. The Navy’s Combat Collaborative Aircraft will be larger, have a bigger mission portfolio, be armed and fly into battle alongside manned aircraft. It can be controlled by a fighter pilot, allowing the Navy pilot to potentially conduct an orchestra of destruction with multiple craft flying alongside the pilot into harm’s way.The CCA will take on the Navy’s most dangerous missions. It would take up about the same amount of space as an F/A-18 on an aircraft carrier deck.The Navy wants the CCA to be able to carry up to four 2,500-pound munitions. It can have either internal or external weapons bays.A Sidewinder missile weighs less than 200 pounds. The AIM-20C AMRAAM air-to-air missile weighs around 350 pounds. The specifications suggest the Navy may be considering using the CCA as both a fighter and attack aircraft.The CCA will need to take off in conditions up to and including rough seas with 13-foot waves and 31-mile per hour winds. And it’s the challenge of the sea environment — salt air, high winds and short takeoffs and landings — that require a unique design.The Air Force is heading into the production phase of its loyal wingman design after less than two years working on the program. In June, the Air Force selected two semi-autonomous drone designs to go into production — the FQ-42A “Dark Merlin” and the FQ-44 “Fury.” The FQ-44 began testing in April 2025 and first flew last October. Its manufacturer, Anduril, says it is the first semi-autonomous fighter aircraft to get the go-ahead for mass production.In late July, the FQ-44 flew as part of training exercises at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. The drills tested integration with manned aircraft and ran through simulations, the Air Force said in a news release. The Air Force will buy at least 150 FQ-44s, which are planned to be in the field by 2031. The first of these left an Ohio assembly line in late July.The Dark Merlin is also headed into production, but its maker, General Atomics, did not specify how many will be built, or how quickly. A Dark Merlin crashed during takeoff during testing in April. No one was injured, and testing was resumed after a pause.“Air superiority in today’s increasingly contested environments requires the rapid fielding of affordable mass,” said the Air Force chief of staff, General Ken Wilsbach. “By integrating uncrewed systems to fly alongside our airmen, we extend reach and increase lethality.”The Marine Corps’ MQ-58 Valkyrie is intended for the incredibly risky mission of going after enemy radars before an airstrike. It’s planned to work alongside the Corps’ F-35s. Although the Marines operate fighter and attack aircraft from naval amphibious assault ships, the MQ-58 is designed to take off and land on a runway.To speed up the deployment of the Navy’s eventual unmanned fighter, the Pentagon says the design will need to use an existing GPS landing system used by carrier aircraft. But the idea is that the CCA will be versatile enough to integrate with a new generation of carrier aircraft like the in-development F-47 fighter jet.The Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps all have signed an agreement to share technology and collaborate on each other’s programs.The Pentagon wants responses from companies interested in designing the Navy’s CCA by September 18.

Navy Looks to Experience of Air Force, Marines in Developing Seaborne Drone Capability

Navy Looks to Experience of Air Force, Marines in Developing Seaborne Drone Capability

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