F-22 Pilot Controls MQ-20 Drone in Breakthrough Manned-Unmanned Teaming Demo

In a first-of-its-kind demonstration, a pilot flying an F-22 Raptor has successfully controlled a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) MQ-20 Avenger drone in flight.

The F-22 fighter jet and MQ-20 drone presented manned-unmanned teaming capabilities on October 21 at the Nevada Test and Training Range, according to a GA-ASI press release published this month.

It marked a major milestone in the US Air Force’s goal to operate manned fighters with unmanned “loyal wingmen” under the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program.

The test, led by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, is one of many ongoing flight demonstrations, with industry officials saying that it sets the stage for future expansion of the CCA program across multiple fighter platforms, including the F-35, according to Breaking Defense.

Moreover, it “showcased non-proprietary, US government-owned communications capabilities and the ability to fly, transition, and re-fly flight hardware that is core to the Open Mission Systems and skills-based unmanned autonomy ecosystem,” GA-ASI stated.

Demo Details

The flight leveraged L3Harris’ Banshee Advanced Tactical Datalinks and Pantera software-defined radios (SDR), integrated through Lockheed Martin’s open radio architectures, to link the F-22 and MQ-20.

Two SDRs were installed — one on the Avenger and one on the Raptor — allowing real-time, end-to-end control through the pilot vehicle interface tablet and the F-22’s GRACE (Government Reference Architecture Compute Environment) module.

Part of recent Raptor upgrades, GRACE is an open architecture system that makes it easier to plug in new software, including tools for controlling drones, to the stealth fighter.

Earlier this year, the air force designated the single-seat F-22 Raptor to become the first operational combat jet to control the drones under the CCA program, prioritizing it due to fleet availability and its role in the pacing environment.