Anduril's Fury Drone Takes Flight: A New Contender in Collaborative Combat Aircraft

Milivox analysis: The first flight of Anduril’s Fury unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of autonomous collaborative combat systems. As the U.S. Air Force accelerates its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program and associated Loyal Wingman concepts, Fury positions Anduril as a serious contender in a rapidly expanding field dominated by legacy primes.

Background

On November 17, 2025, defense technology firm Anduril Industries announced the successful first flight of its Fury UCAV at an undisclosed test range. Originally developed by Blue Force Technologies before being acquired by Anduril in September 2023, Fury is designed as a high-performance autonomous drone optimized for collaborative operations with manned fighters such as the F-35 and future NGAD platforms.

The maiden flight comes amid growing urgency within the U.S. Department of Defense to field cost-effective unmanned platforms capable of augmenting manned aircraft in contested environments. The U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) initiative—part of the broader NGAD ecosystem—seeks to deploy attritable drones that can conduct ISR, electronic warfare (EW), and strike missions while networked with human pilots.

Technical Overview

The Fury is a jet-powered UCAV with stealth-optimized design features and performance characteristics intended to match or exceed fourth-generation fighter speeds. According to publicly available imagery and design disclosures from Blue Force Technologies prior to acquisition, Fury features:

Sleek low-observable airframe with blended wing-body configuration
Single jet engine propulsion system (exact model undisclosed)
Internal payload bays for sensors or munitions
Autonomous mission execution via onboard AI-enabled flight software
Modular architecture for rapid mission reconfiguration

While exact specifications remain classified or proprietary, Milivox assesses that Fury is designed for medium-range missions with sufficient endurance to accompany manned fighters deep into contested airspace. Its likely payload capacity is optimized for ISR sensors or small-diameter precision munitions rather than heavy strike loads.

Operational or Strategic Context

The first flight of Fury coincides with intensifying efforts by both U.S. and allied militaries to operationalize manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T). The USAF has committed over $6 billion through FY2028 toward CCA development under NGAD—a sixth-generation air dominance program that anticipates fielding multiple types of autonomous drones per crewed fighter.

Anduril’s entry into this domain challenges traditional defense primes like Boeing (with MQ-28 Ghost Bat), Lockheed Martin (CCA-X concepts), and General Atomics (Gambit family). Notably, Boeing Australia’s MQ-28 has already flown extensively under Royal Australian Air Force programs and is being evaluated by the USAF as well.

The strategic rationale behind CCAs includes:

Expanding force projection without increasing pilot risk
Enabling distributed kill chains across multiple nodes
Saturating enemy defenses with low-cost attritable assets
Reducing lifecycle costs compared to fifth-gen fighters

The ability for systems like Fury to operate semi-autonomously while receiving tasking from human operators via secure datalinks aligns closely with emerging Joint All-Domain Command & Control (JADC2) doctrine.

Market or Industry Impact

The successful test flight positions Anduril—a relative newcomer compared to established primes—as a viable supplier within the rapidly expanding UCAV sector. Following its acquisition of Blue Force Technologies and earlier procurement wins such as Lattice OS deployments for base defense and counter-UAS missions, Anduril continues its trajectory from software disruptor to full-spectrum defense integrator.

If selected for further development under USAF CCA pathways—or international equivalents—Fury could represent one of several “drone wingmen” flying alongside F-35A squadrons by the early-to-mid-2030s. Analysts at Milivox estimate that global demand for loyal wingman-type drones could exceed $30 billion over the next decade as NATO allies seek scalable deterrence options against near-peer threats like China and Russia.

Milivox Commentary

According to Milivox experts: The emergence of platforms like Fury underscores a key inflection point in military aviation—the shift from platform-centric procurement toward networked capability ecosystems. While legacy primes have focused on exquisite high-end systems often constrained by cost and production timelines, firms like Anduril are leveraging agile development cycles more akin to commercial aerospace startups.

This approach may offer competitive advantages in delivering attritable but capable UCAVs at scale—particularly if paired with open mission systems architectures compatible with USAF ABMS/JADC2 frameworks. However, questions remain regarding survivability against advanced IADS networks without full stealth signatures or EW suites comparable to manned platforms.

Milivox reports that: Further testing will be critical in validating autonomy stack maturity—including dynamic threat response without human intervention—and interoperability with existing Link-16 or future tactical datalinks such as MADL or TTNT. Additionally, integration into live-fly exercises such as Orange Flag or EDGE will be key milestones ahead of any production decision.