Pratt & Whitney will supply the engine for Northrop Grumman’s YFQ-48A Talon Blue, an additional design under evaluation in the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program.
The aircraft is powered by a member of the PW500 engine family, a commercial turbofan adapted for military use. According to the company, the engine has undergone testing to validate performance under mission profiles expected for CCA operations, including endurance and operability in varied flight conditions.
Northrop Grumman’s YFQ-48A is a newer entrant in the CCA effort, which seeks to field uncrewed aircraft capable of operating alongside crewed fighters. The design is being assessed in parallel with the more advanced YFQ-42A, developed by General Atomics, and the YFQ-44A from Anduril Industries, both of which have already begun flight testing.
The use of a commercial engine shows one of the approaches being considered for the program: reducing cost and development time by adapting existing systems rather than designing new propulsion units from scratch. Pratt & Whitney said the PW500 family has accumulated more than 24 million flight hours in civil service.
