Breaking Defense reports, “Defense tech startup Anduril’s prototype bid for the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program achieved its first flight, the service announced [Friday]. The YFQ-44A drone flew ‘at a California test location’ at an undisclosed time today, the Air Force said in a press release. The drone is the second to reach the flight testing stage for the Air Force’s drone wingman program, following General Atomics’s YFQ-42A that took off for the first time in August.”
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Tag: Air Forces
NASA Astronaut to Break Record on 353-Day Mission
SPACE reports that NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei will remain on the ISS until March, setting a new 353-day-long record for a spaceflight by an American astronaut. The prior record was held by Scott Kelly for a 340-day flight.
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UAVs Increasingly Used by Air Forces Worldwide
Aviation Week reports that as of 2021, “over 4,000 so-called Group 3-5 UAVs – systems with a maximum takeoff weight in excess of 55 lb. – are in service, with Aviation Week Network figures showing that figure increasing to over 5,200 by 2031, an increase of 30% over the next 10 years.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)