MOJAVE, Calif. - Oct. 3, 2026 - Northrop Grumman's (NYSE: NOC) YFQ-48A Talon Blue completed its first fully autonomous flight, including taxi, takeoff, in-flight maneuvers, and landing. Developed through company investment, Talon Blue combines modular design and advanced manufacturing to lower cost and support faster production without compromising mission capability. The flight builds on Northrop Grumman's seven decades of autonomy experience and more than 500,000 autonomous flight hours, with lessons from Talon Blue informing future autonomous systems.
Details on YFQ-48A Talon Blue:
- Talon Blue is part of Northrop Grumman's internally-funded Project Talon portfolio focused on accelerating the development of mission-ready autonomous airpower capabilities.
- Manufacturing and design innovations cut part count and overall weight, lowering cost and enabling faster production to meet growing demand for autonomous systems.
- Designed with flexible operational concepts in mind, Talon Blue's high air intake, wide wheelbase and integrated weapons bay support a wide variety of mission needs for U.S. and allied partners.
Northrop Grumman's YFQ-48A Talon Blue demonstrates a successful fully autonomous flight, including taxi, takeoff, in-flight maneuvers, and landing in Mojave, Calif. (Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman)
Expert:
Craig Woolston, vice president and general manager, research and advanced design, Northrop Grumman: "Our customers made it clear they need autonomous systems that can be fielded faster and more affordably without sacrificing mission effectiveness. We listened. Talon Blue's first flight is one step toward a new generation of autonomous capabilities. Every flight and lesson strengthens our broader autonomy work and sharpens what comes next."
Details on the Project Talon Portfolio:
The Project Talon portfolio includes Talon IQ™, a cutting-edge autonomous testbed operating on the Scaled Composites Model 437 aircraft. Powered by Northrop Grumman's Prism Mission Autonomy software, Talon IQ offers an accessible government reference architecture that accelerates autonomy maturation while reducing the time and cost to bring new mission capabilities forward.
Together, Talon Blue and Talon IQ allow Northrop Grumman and its partners to rapidly develop, test and field autonomous capabilities tailored to meet emerging threats and operational requirements.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global aerospace and defense technology company. Our pioneering solutions equip our customers with the capabilities they need to connect and protect the world, and push the boundaries of human exploration across the universe. Driven by a shared purpose to solve our customers' toughest problems, our employees define possible every day.