From: Harold Brattland <habrattland@arvig.net> Sent: Monday, February 23, 2026 4:02 PM To: Brattland, Mike * <mgbrattland@gerlecreek.com> Subject: Aviation Week :: DARPA’s Missile-Carrying LongShot Becomes Newest X-Plane Check out this site https://aviationweek.com/defense/aircraft-propulsion/darpas-missile-carrying... -- DARPA’s Missile-Carrying LongShot Becomes Newest X-Plane Share Graham Warwick <https://aviationweek.com/author/graham-warwick> February 17, 2026 <https://aviationweek.com/sites/default/files/styles/crop_freeform/public/2026-02/longshot_cw_03_copy.jpeg?itok=1CDc_HI1> Carrying air-to-air missiles, LongShot is intended to increase the survivability and combat reach of the launch platform. Credit: DARPA An air-launched missile-carrying uncrewed aircraft developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for DARPA’s LongShot project has been designated the X-68A ahead of flight tests expected by year-end. The LongShot is designed to be carried by fighters and bombers, or as a palletized munition on airlifters, and launched to fly ahead and engage targets with its own internally carried air-to-air missiles. The goal is to increase launch platform survivability and extend combat reach. The vehicle is being touted as a possible contender for Increment 2 of the U.S. Air Force’s collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) program. Flight testing of the Anduril YFQ-44A and General Atomics YFQ-42A Increment 1 CCAs is under way, and in December the Air Force awarded nine concept refinement contracts for Increment 2, with prototyping contracts expected this year. An outgrowth of DARPA’s Flying Missile Rail seedling project, the agency awarded contracts to General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman in 2020 to develop concepts for LongShot. General Atomics was selected to build the vehicle in 2023, at which time flight testing was planned in 2024. “In late 2023, we updated our test strategy to accelerate the development of a more mature and capable system. We pivoted from a multi-stage glider flight plan to a more direct approach focused on a single, fully powered LongShot vehicle,” says Col. John Casey, DARPA LongShot program manager. “We also changed course on the launch platform to [Boeing <https://aviationweek.com/term/boeing> ] F-15 integration. While this more ambitious plan required a revised schedule, it ensures we are testing a more operationally relevant system, with preliminary aerodynamics being validated in our wind tunnel tests,” he says. This approach will reduce risk for follow-on development, Casey says. This suggests there are hopes of transitioning the host-agnostic LongShot to a customer, possibly as a candidate for CCA Increment 2. LongShot “presents a viable path for the military services to increase air combat reach and effectiveness from uninhabited, air-launched platforms,” he says. General Atomics has completed full-scale wind tunnel testing of LongShot as well as trials of the vehicle’s parachute recovery and weapons release systems, DARPA says. The company has released concept art showing a pair of LongShots mounted in the inboard wing pylons of an F-15. Ground and integration testing is underway, and flight testing is expected as early as the end of 2026. “These tests will prove the safe and effective employment of the X‑68A from an F-15, confirm the flight worthiness of the LongShot vehicle and demonstrate its ability to safely eject a captive sub-munition,” DARPA says. The vehicle appears to be about the same length as the 610-gal. external tank carried by F-15s on the inboard pylons, making it significantly longer than the AGM-158 JASSM cruise missile. Williams International has been identified as the supplier of the engine for LongShot, most likely the FJ33 turbofan. General Atomics has depicted LongShot launching AIM-120 Amraam medium-range air-to-air missiles from an internal bay. AIM-120s have been launched from Boeing <https://aviationweek.com/term/boeing> ’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat CCA and Turkey’s Baykar Bayraktar Kizilelma uncrewed combat aircraft, but both are designed for runway launch and recovery. <https://aviationweek.com/sites/default/files/styles/author_thumbnail/public/uploads/2014/03/warwickgrahamsized.jpg?itok=weyKUO-K> Graham Warwick <https://aviationweek.com/author/graham-warwick> Graham leads Aviation Week's coverage of technology, focusing on engineering and technology across the aerospace industry, with a special focus on identifying technologies of strategic importance to aviation, aerospace and defense.