Northrop Grumman YFQ-48A Talon Blue Completes First Fully Autonomous Flight In Mojave

Northrop Grumman said its YFQ-48A Talon Blue has completed its first fully autonomous flight. The sortie, flown in Mojave, Calif., included taxi, takeoff, in-flight maneuvers and landing. The announcement was dated Oct. 3, 2026.

The company said Talon Blue was developed with its own investment. It combines a modular design with advanced manufacturing, which Northrop Grumman says lowers cost and supports faster production without reducing mission capability. According to the company, design and manufacturing changes cut the part count and the overall weight of the aircraft.

Northrop Grumman said the aircraft was designed around flexible operational concepts. Its high air intake, wide wheelbase and integrated weapons bay are intended to support a wide range of missions for U.S. and allied partners.

The company said the flight draws on its seven decades of autonomy experience and more than 500,000 autonomous flight hours. It added that lessons from Talon Blue will inform future autonomous systems.

Talon Blue belongs to Project Talon, an internally funded Northrop Grumman portfolio aimed at speeding up the development of mission-ready autonomous airpower capabilities.

The portfolio also includes Talon IQ, an autonomous testbed that operates on the Scaled Composites Model 437 aircraft. It runs on Northrop Grumman's Prism Mission Autonomy software. The company says Talon IQ offers an accessible government reference architecture that speeds up autonomy maturation and reduces the time and cost of bringing new mission capabilities forward.