Washington: The Marine Corps has big plans in 2026 to advance toward fielding a drone wingman to collaborate with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
On February 10, the Corps released its 2026 Aviation Plan, outlining its strategy to maintain and develop its aviation fleets.
A top priority: testing and developing Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Expeditionary (MUX) TACAIR, an unmanned “collaborative combat aircraft” intended to “increase the survivability and lethality of F-35 and enable the successful execution of the [strike fighter] mission across a wide range of developing threat environments,” according to the document.
The relatively low-cost MUX TACAIR will do that by assuming some of the risk that would otherwise fall to the manned aircraft in aerial combat operations, according to the Corps’ vision for the programme.
Also, major defence contractor General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. announced its uncrewed jet, YFQ-42A, had been selected by the Marine Corps as a candidate for the MUX TACAIR programme.
“The agreement integrates GA-ASI’s expertise in autonomy and uncrewed aircraft systems with a government-provided mission package, using the YFQ-42A platform as a surrogate to evaluate integration with crewed fighters,” the company said in a release.
Next steps include installing a Marine Corps mission kit onto the drone jet for follow-on assessment and rapid development of autonomy for the mission kit, described as “a cost-effective, sensor-rich, software-defined suite capable of delivering kinetic and non-kinetic effects,” so the system can then be put through its paces in expeditionary conditions.
The announcement follows the successful maiden flight of YFQ-42A in August. The same platform has also been selected by the Air Force for testing in its CCA programme.
Recent months have been eventful for the MUX TACAIR programme. After demonstrating manned-unmanned teaming between the F-35 and Kratos’ XQ-58 Valkyrie drone through four experimentation flights beginning in 2024, the Marine Corps last month selected the Valkyrie for mission development as part of the programme, granting a Northrop Grumman-Kratos team a $231.5 million contract for the work.
Also last month, Marine Corps Aviation formally launched the MUX TACAIR Transition Task Force to supervise and streamline the fielding process among stakeholder commands.
A first-of-its-kind task force conference kicked off at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, focused on “cross-functional team (CFT) formation, and problem framing to the objective of future operational test flights at [Marine Test and Evaluation Squadron-1],” according to the announcement.
Five cross-functional teams will oversee aspects of the programme ranging from training, readiness and operations to basing and facilities, officials said.
Upcoming project milestones for the MUX programme, according to the newly released aviation plan, will include taxi testing with prototypes and a first flight for the conventional takeoff and landing variant of the drone.
Also on the to-do list is development of electronic warfare capabilities for the MUX TACAIR platforms, specifically so they can be deployed in defence of the manned platforms they escort and support.
The aviation plan adds that among key infrastructure priorities for the Corps is facilitating development and planning for MUX TACAIR “with focus on operational testing” at the air station in Yuma.
