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Northrop Grumman’s Talon Blue Completes First Uncrewed Flight

Northrop Grumman’s uncrewed YFQ-48A Talon Blue made its first autonomous flight, including taxi, takeoff flight maneuvers, and landing.

Jonathan Welsh
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Jonathan Welsh

Northrop Grumman YFQ-48A Talon Blue [Credit: Northrop Grumman]

Northrop Grumman announced its YFQ-48A Talon Blue completed its first fully autonomous flight in Mojave, California. The sortie included taxi, takeoff, maneuvers in flight, and landing.

The company’s internally funded uncrewed aircraft was designed with a modular structure intended to allow faster production while reducing parts count, weight, and cost compared with traditional military aircraft. Northrop Grumman said it achieved the improvements in manufacturing without compromising the aircraft’s mission readiness.

Jonathan Welsh

Jonathan Welsh is a private pilot and lifelong aviation enthusiast who has been a reporter, writer and columnist for 35 years. His career includes stints with the Wall Street Journal, Flying Magazine and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. He recently returned to Firecrown to lead Aviation Consumer.