General Atomics Aeronautical Systems

YFQ-42A (Dark Merlin)

GA-ASI's jet-powered, uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) built to fly alongside crewed fighters. Derived from the genus-species Gambit family and the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station airframe, it was designated YFQ-42A by the USAF, first flew on 27 August 2025, and was named 'Dark Merlin' in early 2026. Selected alongside Anduril's YFQ-44A under CCA Increment 1, with a combined initial production run of 150 FQ-42/FQ-44 aircraft planned by 2030. Its autonomy core was matured over five years of flight testing on GA-ASI's jet-powered MQ-20 Avenger.

Planned service entry 2025 · 1 operator countries

Compiled from public sources ·primary reference ↗ ·last verified 2026-07-16

Pricing: Selected for CCA Increment 1 initial production (USAF, June 2026); designed for attritable cost well below a crewed fighter

Procurement snapshot

Availability & export

US ITAR-controlled

Export needs U.S. State Dept (DDTC) approval; end-use & re-transfer restrictions apply.

Channel: Foreign Military Sales (FMS) or Direct Commercial Sale

Development status

Limited · 1 operator

Planned service entry 2025. Status: announced.

Lifecycle cost (est.)

No public unit price to model from. Why so few systems publish one →

Interoperability

AIM-120 AMRAAM

Derived guidance from public data, export regime by country of origin, lifecycle from the GAO ~30% acquisition rule. Verify eligibility, pricing and offsets with the manufacturer and your acquisition authority.

Compatible munitions & weapons

Publicly reported weapons the YFQ-42A (Dark Merlin) can carry. Linked items have a full spec page.

AIM-120 AMRAAM

Full specifications

Specifications compiled from public General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and reference sources ↗. Published defense figures are approximations, treat comparisons as directional. Last verified 2026-07-16.