Northrop Grumman / Scaled Composites Model 444 / Project Lotus / YFQ-48A Talon Blue CCA

Hydroman said:
I think the USAF is going to spread the wealth across a number of different primes due to the different mission types, maybe kind of like an LCS program for aircraft where the USN bought two different types of LCS but for the basic littoral mission, for the aircraft, just the inverse multiple platforms, multiple mission types. NG may have already been selected for something due to their work with the Scaled aircraft prototypes, this may be the reason for the quick YFQ-48 desigation, we still need YFQ-45, 46, and 47.
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I think the USAF envisions multiple active production lines and fielding multiple types concurrently. This seems like a deliberate attempt to grow the entire industry, similarly to how SDA is managing its constellations.
 
Well the lack of cockpit probably changes the aerodynamics and certainly deletes a lot of weight.
 
I am a little unclear concerning YFQ-48’s status. Is it officially in the running for CCA Incr1 or is it merely a candidate for Incr2? Some of the news articles seem to talk like it was a competitor to YFQ-42/44, but as far as I know NG is out of the Incr1 competition.
 
Josh_TN said:
I am a little unclear concerning YFQ-48’s status. Is it officially in the running for CCA Incr1 or is it merely a candidate for Incr2? Some of the news articles seem to talk like it was a competitor to YFQ-42/44, but as far as I know NG is out of the Incr1 competition.
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The USAF has said that they aren't limiting themselves to the 42A or 44A when it comes to the next milestone for increment 1. In other words, they could send the 48A into the next milestone instead of, or in addition to, the other two.
 
Josh_TN said:
I am a little unclear concerning YFQ-48’s status. Is it officially in the running for CCA Incr1 or is it merely a candidate for Incr2?
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Anduril and GA won the development contract for Inc 1. The production contract will be recompeted amongst the wider set of suppliers. Which I think is where NG Talon comes in.
 
More than likely will be a strong contender for CCA Increment II which offers more candidate offerings.
 
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Hydroman said:
More than likely will be a strong contender for CCA Increment II which offers more candidate offerings.
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If Increment II's requirements are similar enough to Increment 1 for Increment 1 candidates to be strong contenders then Northrop Grumman would have to be so much better than the two already funded teams that the USAF would be willing to stand up a third type with all the production work that it entails.. Its more likely that the design contracts awarded for Increment 2 suggest requirements quite a bit different from increment 1 so Northrop would at best have to modify its current offering and at worst start with something a lot different.
 
I don't see the YFQ-48A being a strong contender for Increment II. Increment II has been described as seeking a higher production rate and scale at equal or lower price points. This makes sense given that they expect higher losses in the stand-in strike role that Increment II is supposed to be focusing on. The Talon seems more like something between the Dark Merlin and Vectis, an air supremacy CCA that incorporates stealth and is closer to survivable than attritable. If I had to guess, I think they're going for something like Vectis where they advertise to allied nations like Singapore, Australia, or Japan and offer them a more expensive and survivable CCA that fills the capability gap and serves as a deterrent without the footprint of a larger swarm of attritable CCAs you'd likely find more effective in sustained combat operations like the US expects.
 
Explorer121 said:
I don't see the YFQ-48A being a strong contender for Increment II. Increment II has been described as seeking a higher production rate and scale at equal or lower price points.
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This was one option. They also said theyd be willing to consider more exquisite systems, though the language has admittedly been vague and wishy washy.
 

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