Northrop Grumman has revealed Project Talon, a new autonomous aircraft designed to operate alongside crewed fighters.
The system was introduced on 4 December in Mojave, California. Northrop presents Talon as an autonomous wingman intended to support combat missions and increase operational capacity. The company says the design draws on its long experience in uncrewed aviation and its internal development ecosystem.
In its announcement, Northrop stated that Project Talon was created to offer mission flexibility through modular manufacturing. The company argues this approach shortens build timelines and simplifies adaptation for different roles. It also claims that Talon will advance cooperation between crewed and uncrewed aircraft and could act as a force multiplier for users.
The company highlighted its history of autonomous testing, noting more than five hundred thousand autonomous flight test hours across seven decades. It also linked Talon to Beacon, its autonomous avionics testbed launched earlier this year, which Northrop says allowed real world software evaluation for Talon during development.
The firm stated that Talon was designed and built in under twenty four months and remains on track for a first flight within that window. No performance specifications or mission profiles were disclosed, and the announcement did not identify which combat aircraft Talon will initially support.
Northrop describes Project Talon as part of a wider move toward collaborative combat aircraft. Several competitors are pursuing similar concepts, and the maturity of the companys design will depend on the results of upcoming flight trials once the aircraft is airborne.
