In a groundbreaking test, a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor pilot directly controlled an MQ-20 Avenger drone from the fighter’s cockpit, General Atomics (GA) announced in a press release on Monday. 

GA said the Oct. 21 demonstration at Nevada’s Test and Training Range “successfully demonstrated crewed-uncrewed teaming.”

Recent GA-ASI flight test demos crewed-uncrewed teaming with F-22 Raptor and MQ-20 #AvengerUAS.

Read the news: https://t.co/L1KHkx6P6U#UCAV #DubaiAirshow #DAS25 pic.twitter.com/cgBlzNNKjI

— General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc (GA-ASI) (@GenAtomics_ASI) November 17, 2025

“Through the Pilot Vehicle Interface tablet and the F‑22’s GRACE module, the system provided end‑to‑end communications, enabling the F‑22 command and control of the MQ‑20 in flight,” the press release says. 

“The collaborative demonstration showcased non-proprietary, U.S. 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,” it added. 

Alongside Anduril, GA is under contract for the first phase of the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, which envisions manned fighters operating drone wingmen as demonstrated in the MQ-20 test. 

The U.S. Air Force announced in May that it has begun ground testing two new wingmen drones under its CCA program. The testing phase includes comprehensive evaluations of the YFQ-44A and YFQ-42A production-representative test vehicles, developed by Anduril and GA, respectively.

Ground testing is officially underway for our Collaborative Combat Aircraft program! This is a huge milestone and another step toward first flight and rapid delivery to our warfighters… These unmanned fighters are going to be badass! (1/3) pic.twitter.com/HiuWMzmcc7

— General Ken Wilsbach (@OfficialCSAF) May 1, 2025