The General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) XQ-67A drone is to be modified and upgraded to demonstrate its ability to perform a wider range of missions as part of a USAF program called Demon Ape under the terms of a contract awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

Demon Ape is actually an acronym for “Demonstration of Autonomous Collaborative Platform Performance and Effectiveness”. The exact purpose of the modifications and additions remains uncertain because the documents released alongside the contract are heavily redacted, but according to GA-ASI this new program is closely related to the original requirement for which the USAF first picked the XQ-57A, the Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS), an adjunct, uncrewed sensor platform meant to support crewed fighters.

XQ-67A ended up being the sole platform funded for construction under the OBSS (with the exclusion of a rival Kratos proposal) in February 2023 and it first broke cover one year later, in February 2024, with its first flight following soon after. Demon Ape “directly progresses” OBSS by “integrating specific mission systems and upgrades to meet the goals for that program”. GA-ASI can’t reveal details but suggests they will be “power-hungry” sensors which will require “adequate power generation and thermal management”.

The XQ-67A has notable side apertures in its fuselage which could be exploited to equip what could be large side-looking radar arrays. In April 2024 the USAF also ordered the first prototypes for its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), funding Anduril and General Atomics for detailed designs, manufacture, and testing of production representative test articles.

GA-ASI again entered the XQ-67A, which is thus now being developed in parallel under two separate programs with quite different aims: OBSS, as a flying sensor “truck”, and CCA, an air to air missile “truck”. The USAF has in fact said that it wants its first Increment of CCAs to be focused, at least initially, on serving as air-to-air ‘missile trucks’ that will operate closely with crewed combat jets.

Surface strike, electronic warfare, networking node, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions are also expected to become, over time, part of the CCA’s tasks and capabilities, but the various roles will be developed incrementally over time.

GA-ASI’s XQ-67A is now in a uniquely good position in that it is already being developed in two different configurations/roles through OBSS-Demon Ape and CCA. The fact the airframe has secured a position for itself in both programs is due to the fact that the aircraft is born out of GA-ASI’s internal GAMBIT concept for highly modular, interchangeable fuselages that can be adapted to various missions and flying characteristics. The XQ-67A has been born from the start with generous space reservations and modularity that is evidently paying dividends now.

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