Chalk up another first for the new F-22A—operational pilots launching operational air-to-air missiles in a combat-type employment. Pilots of the first operational Raptor unit, the 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley AFB, Va., fired AIM-9 and AIM-120 missiles at drones flying over the Gulf Mexico for a weapons systems evaluation program, known as Combat Archer. Normally a two-week affair, the Raptors only flew one day to help prepare the WSEP team, the 83rd Fighter Weapons Squadron at Tyndall AFB, Fla., for a full-scale F-22A deployment this summer. A key issue was whether the Florida unit could pick up the missile telemetry after missile launch from the fighter’s internal weapons bay. It worked.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.