On March 5, a long-range, high subsonic UAS called the XQ-58A Valkyrie demonstrator completed its inaugural flight at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.

Developed for runway independence, the UAS performed as expected, completing 76 minutes of flight time.

“XQ-58A is the first example of a class of UAV that is defined by low procurement and operating costs while providing game changing combat capability,” says Doug Szczublewski, AFRL’s XQ-58A program manager.

The XQ-58A is a result of a collaborative effort between the Air Force Research Laboratory and Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems.

The collaborative effort falls within the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology (LCAAT) portfolio, which seeks to break the escalating cost trajectory of tactically relevant aircraft.

The LCAAT initiative also wants to develop better design tools to design and build UAS faster, as well as mature and leverage commercial manufacturing processes to reduce build time and cost.
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The first flight of the UAS came approximately two and a half years after the award of the contract. There are five planned test flights in two phases for the XQ-58A, and those flights will seek to evaluate system functionality, aerodynamic performance and launch and recovery systems.