The Japan Times - The Future of Autonomous Fighters Is Coming To Rome

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA / ACCESS Newswire / November 3, 2025 / General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), the world leader in uncrewed aircraft systems, is excited to participate in the upcoming 25th anniversary of the International Fighter Conference as the event's only Four-Star Lead Partner, reflecting the company's global commitment to the future of autonomous fighter jets.

GA-ASI's growing production fleet of unmanned combat jets - including the MQ-20 Avenger^®, XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station, and YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft - is defining the global future of autonomous and semi-autonomous combat jets, leading the way in autonomy development, manned-unmanned teaming, and affordable, rapid delivery at scale. The company's vision for its Gambit Series of modular, scalable, uncrewed fighters paves the way for U.S. forces, allies and partners to quickly evolve global air forces for the future fight.

Publicly promising to build and fly a production-representative uncrewed jet fighter for the U.S. Air Force by summer 2025, GA-ASI launched its YFQ-42A CCA in August, pioneering a new era for fighter jets. Flight operations continue today across the growing fleet, cementing GA-ASI's continued dominance in UAS development and delivery while meeting anticipated timelines and remaining true to its word.

"The YFQ-42A is a revolutionary aircraft, and the fleet is in production and in the air today," said David R. Alexander, president of GA-ASI. "This isn't a 'wait and see' moment. We're flying. We're delivering. And we're advancing this future of combat aviation, the same way we have for more than three decades."

Since 1992, GA-ASI has delivered more than 1,300 combat aircraft to U.S. forces and international partners, surpassing more than 9 million total flight hours in 2025. The company's Predator^®, Reaper^®, Gray Eagle^®, SkyGuardian^® and SeaGuardian^® aircraft continue to set the standard for medium-altitude, long-endurance UAS performance.

The company's MQ-20 Avenger, an internally funded uncrewed combat jet that achieved first flight in 2009, continues to serve as a test bed for advanced autonomy integration and demonstration, incorporating and flying the latest cutting-edge software from U.S. government sources, leading industry suppliers and GA-ASI's own autonomy software development teams, often at company expense.

For International Fighter Conference, Nov. 4-6 in Rome, GA-ASI plans to offer attendees a chance to see the future for themselves, with a full-scale model display of the YFQ-42A CCA co-located inside the show venue and other announcements. For more information on IFC 2025, visit https://www.defenceiq.com/events-internationalfighter.

About GA-ASI
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., is the world's foremost builder of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Logging more than 9 million flight hours, the Predator^® line of UAS has flown for over 30 years and includes MQ-9A Reaper^®, MQ-1C Gray Eagle^®, MQ-20 Avenger^®, and MQ-9B SkyGuardian^®/SeaGuardian^®. The company is dedicated to providing long-endurance, multi-mission solutions that deliver persistent situational awareness and rapid strike.

For more information, visit www.ga-asi.com.

Avenger, EagleEye, Gray Eagle, Lynx, Predator, Reaper, SeaGuardian, and SkyGuardian are trademarks of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., registered in the United States and/or other countries.

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SOURCE: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

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K.Yamaguchi--JT