Anduril FQ-44 Fury

The origins of the Fury UAV reach back to the late 2010s, when the small company Blue Force Technologies (BFT) proposed a new approach to USAF's Adversary Air Training (ADAIR) requirements. BFT designed a UAV, which was to realistically emulate fifth-generation adversary fighters in air training exercises, while also allowing higher mission rates than the traditional use of manned aircraft as adversaries. Their Fury design was powered by a single turbofan engine, had an airframe with low-observability elements, and a modular mission payload concept. In early 2022, BFT received a contract from the Air Force Research Lab to develop the Fury as an ADAIR UAV.

CGI: Blue Force Technologies

Fury

BFT had always indicated that Fury had the potential to be much more than just an "aggressor" drone for air training exercises. This included ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) missions, and one rendering showed a Fury with externally mounted air-to-air missiles. In September 2023, BFT and its Fury design were purchased by Anduril Industries, and Anduril immediately changed the Fury's focus from ADAIR drone to multi-mission UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle). By that time, the USAF had begun its CCA (Collaborative Combat Aircraft) program, as part of the larger NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance) effort. A CCA, also sometimes dubbed as a "Loyal Wingman", was to be an unmanned aircraft, which could fly missions alongside manned combat aircraft, extending the sensor capabilities, munitions loadout, and reach of the fighter force. A CCA receives commands from humans in the loop, but can carry out the assigned missions with a high degree of autonomy.

The CCA program is proceeding in steps called "Increments", and Increment 1 focuses on a CCA with primarily air-to-air tasks. Anduril entered the design competition for CCA Increment 1 with their Fury, against offerings from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Atomics. In April 2024, the Air Force announced a downselect to two competing designs, from General Atomics and Anduril. In March 2025, the Fury was officially designated as FQ-44, with the upcoming prototypes becoming the YFQ-44A.

Photo: Brendon Smith/Breaking Defense

YFQ-44A (full-scale model)

No details about the FQ-44's planned sensor and weapon options had been revealed at the time of this writing. In early 2025, the first flight of the YFQ-44A was expected to occur before the end of that year.

Designation Note: It is unknown, why the design number 44 was allocated. It is out of sequence in both the Q- and F-series, and doesn't even follow directly the number of the other CCA Increment 1 design, the General Dynamics FQ-42.

Specifications

Note: Data given by several sources show slight variations. Figures given below may therefore be inaccurate!

Data for YFQ-44A (estimated):

Main Sources

[1] The War Zone, Joseph Trevithick and Tyler Rogoway: The Rise of Fury, September 2023
[2] Anduril Fury Website
[3] U.S. Air Force: Air Force designates two Mission Design Series for collaborative combat aircraft, March 2025

Back to Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 2

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Last Updated: 9 March 2025