Skunk Works has yet to share exactly when development of Vectis began, but has described it as a product of a broader development philosophy it has adopted called the Agile Drone Framework. The framework prioritizes modularity and open mission systems, as well as interoperability in areas like command and control architectures, over any specific hardware. The name Vectis means lever or pole in Latin, and is meant to reflect the \u2018leverage\u2019 the platform offers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeet Vectis, a Group 5, survivable, lethal, and reusable, Collaborative Combat Aircraft that embodies not only our pedigree in [crewed] fighter aircraft, autonomy, and uncrewed systems, but [that] is also enabled by that Agile Drone Framework,\u201d O.J. Sanchez, Lockheed Martin Vice President and General Manager of Skunk Works, told TWZ and other outlets this past week. \u201cVectis will provide U.S. and allied warfighters with range, endurance, and multi-mission flexibility, including air-to-air, air-to-surface, and ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance].\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/vectis-render-rear-profile.jpg\")
Lockheed Martin capture <\/p>\n
In the U.S. military\u2019s parlance, Group 5 uncrewed aerial systems are the largest and most capable, covering anything pilotless with a maximum takeoff weight of 1,320 pounds or more, and that can fly at altitudes of 18,000 feet or higher. When asked, Sanchez declined to offer any hard dimensions or other specifications for Vectis. He did say it was smaller than a Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter<\/a>, but larger than one of the company\u2019s Common Multi-Mission Truck<\/a> (CMMT, pronounced \u2018comet\u2019) missile-like drones, which is a very broad size range.<\/p>\n Renderings of Vectis from Skunk Works show a tailless drone with a lambda wing planform and a top-mounted air intake. There is a pronounced chine line around the forward end of the fuselage and a shovel-like shape to the nose, as well as various conformal antennas and\/or sensor apertures, all of which are indicative of low-observable (stealthy) design considerations. A short promotional video, seen below, also includes a cutaway view showing an S-shaped duct behind the air intake and exhaust shrouding, features that offer further radar cross-section and infrared signature reducing benefits.<\/p>\n \t\t Skunk Works\u2019 Sanchez also said Vectis is runway dependent in its \u201ccurrent instantiation,\u201d something we will come back to later on. Its landing gear configuration has not yet been shown.<\/p>\n Vectis\u2019 core planform is interestingly reminiscent, in some broad strokes, of a rendering of a stealthy aerial refueling tanker concept<\/a> Skunk Works first showed publicly last year. That aircraft had a much larger design, in line with its intended mission, with large clipped wings that had some lambda-wing attributes, as well as small outwardly-canted twin vertical tails. The look of the new survivable CCA also hearkens back to older concepts for advanced crewed combat jets from Lockheed and other companies, including from studies that fed into<\/a> the Air Force\u2019s Advanced Tactical Fighter<\/a> (ATF) program that led to the F-22.<\/p>\n There has been something of an uptick in recent years in new crewed and uncrewed tactical aircraft designs with lambda or at least lambda-like planforms. This includes one of the several air combat drone\u00a0designs<\/a> that emerged around a massive military parade in China<\/a> earlier this month, as well as one of the two Chinese next-generation crewed combat jets <\/a>that broke cover in December 2024. The stealthy Wingman drone design<\/a> that European aerospace conglomerate Airbus unveiled earlier this year<\/a> is another one of the many examples.<\/p>\n Skunk Works has also declined to share details about Vectis\u2019 intended performance or what engine it might use. <\/p>\n \u201cI would say that in the CCA space, our operational analysis doesn\u2019t point towards supersonic [speed as a central requirement],\u201d Skunk Works head Sanchez shared. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to refine that, but I wouldn\u2019t go so far as to say supersonic is what we see as needed in this space.\u201d<\/p>\n Vectis also has \u201cendurance ranges compatible with Indo-Pacific, European, and CENTCOM [U.S. Central Command] theaters,\u201d according to a Lockheed Martin press release, which does not elaborate further on this aspect of the drone\u2019s capabilities.<\/p>\n What munitions and other payloads Vectis might be able to carry is unclear. Skunk Works\u2019 Sanchez mentioned \u201creusable or flexible payloads,\u201d but did not elaborate. The promotional video included earlier in this story shows a vignette in which the drones, operating together with an F-22, use unspecified sensors to spot and track aerial threats before being ordered to fire air-to-air missiles, presumably from internal bays, at those targets. Compact radars<\/a> and\/or infrared search and track<\/a> (IRST) systems would be logical sensor options for supporting the air-to-air role. <\/p>\n As noted, Vectis is also intended to be configurable for air-to-ground and general ISR missions. Another promotional video Lockheed Martin has now released, which covers Skunk Works\u2019 Agile Drone Framework more generally, seen below, shows Vectis drones firing air-to-surface missiles at an enemy air defense site.<\/p>\n \t\t Electronic warfare suites and signal relay packages might also be among the payload options for Vectis drones.<\/p>\n The design is \u201crapidly upgradable and customizable to align to shifting threat environment priorities,\u201d according to Sanchez. \u201cVectis\u2019 signature and comms are compatible with fifth and next-gen aircraft. We\u2019ve conducted classified crewed-uncrewed teaming operations analysis, pairing F-22s and F-35s with Vectis, and the results are impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanchez clarified later that this operations analysis had been conducted in simulated environments as Vectis is not yet flying. Lockheed Martin is already well known for its extensive work in the unclassified realm<\/a> on crewed-uncrewed teaming capabilities<\/a>, including in digital environments and through real-world flight testing, as well as instances that blend the two together. The F-22 is now in line to be the first airborne controller<\/a> for Air Force CCAs. The company also now has a contract with the U.S. Navy<\/a> to provide a common command and control architecture for that service\u2019s future CCAs, which will leverage work on its Multi Domain Combat System (MDCX)<\/a>, a software-based package already being integrated into new drone control centers on American aircraft carriers<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the most impressive attributes of the Skunk Works is its long commitment to open mission systems, to architectures that enable a large tent of folks to be able to plug in. That\u2019s why we believe that interoperability is foundational to solving warfighter problems in the decades in front of us,\u201d Sanchez said in response to a question about Vectis\u2019 own level of autonomy. \u201cSo when we think about the autonomy and the underpinning software, everything about this will be aligned with the [U.S.] government reference architecture. Our experience delivering that level of capability through the MDCX system to the U.S. Navy, for example, is underpinned with the same approach.\u201d<\/p>\n Our Skunk Works\u00ae MDCX\u2122 autonomy platform is mission-proven, revolutionizing the future of autonomous systems and advancing America’s drone capabilities.<\/p>\n Discover how: \ud83d\udd17\ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n \u2014 Lockheed Martin (@LockheedMartin) February 4, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe welcome the opportunity to collaborate with others,\u201d he added. \u201cWhile I won\u2019t disclose exactly how we\u2019ll partner or who we will align with on the software space, the fundamental architecture is open mission systems aligned with government reference architecture. And as that tent expands, we\u2019ll be willing and able to adapt with others and potentially bring kit in alignment with other efforts that are being worked [on] by other companies.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanchez highlighted a recently announced partnership between Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems\u2019 FalconWorks<\/a> in the United Kingdom as an example of how the company is already collaborating with others, but said that initiative is not tied to Vectis. He also touted demonstrations<\/a> in the past two years of new capabilities<\/a> to securely share classified data with foreign F-35 operators as additional examples, more generally, of the current internal focus on interoperability. <\/p>\n \u201cWe can connect the Vectis system with any other platform, or anybody or anything in the battlespace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In his comments this past week, Sanchez did not speak directly to the matter of physical control interfaces, which has been a matter of contention in recent years, especially when it comes to ordering uncrewed aircraft around from the cockpit of a fighter. Skunk Works has said in the past<\/a> that its immediate focus is on tablet-like and other touch-screen-enabled devices, but other options may emerge in the future. Questions have been raised about whether tablets, in particular, will create problematic additional burdens<\/a> for pilots when directing drones during missions.<\/p>\n The Skunk Works\u2019 Agile Drone Framework video shows pilots in F-22s and F-35s using wide-area touch-screen displays to control Vectis drones, as well as CMMTs and a higher-end flying-wing design. The latter drone has a design that looks evolved from Lockheed Martin\u2019s secretive RQ-170 Sentinel<\/a>, as well as the Sea Ghost concept<\/a> the company put forward years ago for the U.S. Navy\u2019s abortive Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike<\/a> (UCLASS) program. Lockheed Martin has also included an advanced flying wing design, together with various others, in past promotional materials highlighting work on crewed-uncrewed teaming capabilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n Overall, \u201cas the future of air power takes shape, Skunk Works is charting a critical path with this Vectis program to unlock new integrated capabilities at an ultra-competitive speed and price point. Vectis provides best-in-class survivability at the CCA price point,\u201d he said during the press call this past week.<\/p>\n Sanchez did not provide any hard cost metrics for Vectis. The Air Force has said in the past that it is aiming for a unit cost roughly in the $20 million range<\/a> for drones being developed under the first phase, or Increment 1, of its CCA program. The service has also said that it could pursue lower-cost (and less exquisite) designs<\/a> for the planned follow-on Increment 2.<\/p>\n \u201cOur Increment 1 offering had higher levels of stealth than were necessary in the requirements because of the operational analysis conviction of building something that actually had value to the Air Force over the long haul,\u201d John Clark, then head of Skunk Works, had told TWZ and others<\/a> at the Air & Space Forces Association\u2019s main annual conference last year. \u201cI think, hindsight 20\/20, we could certainly armchair quarterback and say, well the Air Force isn\u2019t valuing survivability right now, so we gold-plated something they didn\u2019t need gold-plated.\u201d<\/p>\n Clark added at the time that Skunk Works had shifted focus, at least to a degree, to exploring optionally expendable designs to meet the Air Force\u2019s Increment 2 CCA requirements, which were still being finalized at that point and have yet to be detailed publicly.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that there will \u2026 be a reckoning to come at some point when [the Air Force is] looking at [a scenario where] \u2026 I\u2019m going to spend $15 million or $20 million an airplane, and the OA [operational analysis] is telling me that 80 percent or more of them don\u2019t make it home,\u201d Clark also said last year. \u201cHow many airplanes am I willing to spend that sort of money on before that\u2019s a losing proposition financially as a nation.\u201d<\/p>\n In April 2024, General Atomics and Anduril received contracts from the Air Force to continue developing their CCA designs, now designated the YFQ-42A<\/a> and YFQ-44A<\/a>, respectively. Both of those designs put less emphasis on survivability versus cost compared to how Vectis is currently being presented. In addition to Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman had also been in the running for Increment 1.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you talked to him at the time, there was certain analysis going for a specific competition that was [what] he was talking to,\u201d Skunk Works\u2019 Sanchez said this past week when asked about how Vectis fits in with Clark\u2019s past comments. \u201cThere are design trades that we\u2019ve made in this and mission applications where we clearly see the opportunity for a reusable, highly survivable, and flexible platform like Vectis to create mission effects that are far beyond what you would have without them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo how it applies in each individual mission set starts to get classified \u2026 but we absolutely see at Skunk Works that the integration of teams, manned and unmanned teaming, is going to provide battlespace effects that solve hard problems,\u201d he continued. \u201cSo that is becoming true, and so Vectis creates a unique space where a survivable platform can deliver effects, in both air-to-ground and air-to-air, by the way \u2013 at the time, I believe John was talking to a specific mission set \u2013 as well as provide critical information through like an ISR and targeting role, and again, opened up to more than one mission set as we look at both international force design and domestic force design.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanchez also stressed that Vectis is not being developed at present with any particular potential opportunity with the U.S. military or foreign armed forces in mind. <\/p>\n \u201cI would see the Vectis flexibility that\u2019s being built in, along with its survivability, being very attractive to multiple mission problem sets, and then the agility and the way we\u2019re doing the flexible payload design can be tailored towards specific countries or programs as they need,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that tailoring will be work that we\u2019ll continue to do with each, but not in direct response to any one [opportunity] \u2013 [we\u2019re] more aligned with listening to all those customers, and our knowledge of the battle space has informed our design.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of overlap with the U.S. Air Force and are supporting their approach to find the right requirements for their specific mission sets. So should the U.S. Air Force find that they need a highly survivable platform with the flexibility that Vectis enables for Increment 2, I think it\u2019ll be a great candidate,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe respect their process as they go through and see what\u2019s needed. As you know, every force has specific requirements based on the rest of their force. So this fits squarely in the category of a survivable, reusable, and flexible CCA, and I absolutely think if that\u2019s what the Air Force thinks they need, this would be a great candidate to meet those requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe flexibility we show in that Agile Drone Framework through, say, MDCX, also says that you can command these in multiple locations. You can use smart autonomy integrated with a fifth-gen [fighter] cockpit, like the F-35, or perhaps you could do it off the deck of a ship if you needed to, like we\u2019re doing with MDCX, or any manner in between,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd so we\u2019re building in that kind of autonomy, that flexible autonomy, if you will, so that we can work with more countries, more partners to really listen to what their needs are. So that flexibility has been demonstrated through multiple demonstrations. Now we\u2019ll go out and build it, and we\u2019ll work to prove it in the open air.\u201d<\/p>\n In discussing how Vectis could be adaptable to multiple U.S. and foreign operator requirements, Sanchez also spoke in more detail about the drone\u2019s current dependence on traditional runways, as well as its ability to operate from more austere locations. In the United States, the U.S. Air Force<\/a> and the U.S. Marine Corps<\/a>, in particular, are currently basing tactical crewed and uncrewed aviation force design decisions around the expectation of operating from distributed forward locations, many of which could be remote and with limited supporting infrastructure. This is all intended to create targeting challenges for enemies and reduce vulnerability, as well as bring aircraft close enough to their targets to be effective at higher sortie rates, especially in the context of a potential high-end fight in the Pacific against China<\/a>. Other countries are coming to similar viewpoints, especially based on observations from the ongoing war in Ukraine<\/a>. With all this in mind, reducing or eliminating runway dependence<\/a>, as well as ease of operating and maintainability<\/a>, have emerged as key areas of interest when it comes to CCA-type drones.<\/p>\n \u201cOur analysis aligns with the U.S. Air Force, that runway accessibility is incredibly important in every theater, particularly in INDOPACOM [the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility]. So we\u2019re very intentional about the flexibility that this system would enable in the theaters of interest,\u201d Sanchez explained. \u201cAnd so the amount of runways that will be available, the amount of flexibility to implement, whether it be an Agile Combat Employment approach, or a hub and spoke for other countries, depending on how it is, Vectis will be very capable in those spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n Agile Combat Employment (ACE) is the U.S. Air Force\u2019s current umbrella term for its concepts for distributed and disaggregated operations, as you can read more about here<\/a>. The service has said in the past that the Increment 1 CCAs are the first aircraft being designed from the ground up with ACE<\/a> in mind.<\/p>\n \t\t \u201cWe certainly understand the flexibility the U.S. Air Force might need,\u201d Sanchez added. \u201cAnd if there are other solutions that are runway independent, we would be working with them on those, but this one would be a runway-dependent solution.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe importance of sustainability, of reliability, and the ability to easily maintain a survivable airplane is paramount. So we have absolutely baked that into this approach, and I would tell you that we have, for a while, into our advanced systems,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe\u2019re leveraging both on the material side as well as just the simplicity of design, where important systems that you might be able to access are, how you get to them, and durable, reliable materials that enable much simpler maintainability. So we will be targeting a very high reliability rate and have it first and foremost, both the operations as well as our maintainers in mind to provide that operational flexibility.\u201d<\/p>\n The head of Skunk Works was also asked about how Vectis might fit into concepts of operations wherein much of a CCA fleet might be kept in storage<\/a> rather than being flown on a more day-to-day basis, including in routine training. As TWZ has noted many times<\/a> in the past<\/a>, the U.S. military, broadly, still has many questions to answer about how CCA-type drones will be deployed, launched, recovered, supported, and otherwise operated<\/a>, as well as employed tactically.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you ask me, I think the ability \u2026 for folks to be able to train and integrate is going to be important in the CCA space. So we will have built into it [Vectis] the ability for it to be a daily flyer, reliably work alongside its crewed teammates to be able to integrate into operations for training, as well as for deployment,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cAt the same time, if the requirement is ease of storage and ease of assembly, it\u2019s absolutely built into the design. So we would see that as an operations-defined design trade, as opposed necessarily to one that would be limited by what we\u2019re presenting here. So that\u2019s where we\u2019ll work closely to listen with any individual customers that go from there on their operations choice, but the flexibility is built in.\u201d<\/p>\n Vectis\u2019 emergence comes amid a growing field of CCA-type drones in the United States and elsewhere globally that already reflect a number of different underlying force design concepts. Though the U.S. military continues to eschew more exquisite uncrewed combat air vehicles<\/a> (UCAV), at least publicly, interest in designs in that category is also growing worldwide among American allies and partners. As TWZ has reported multiple times<\/a> just in the past week<\/a>, China has increasingly positioned itself as the dominant actor in the stealthy flying wing UCAV space<\/a>, as well as a leader in advanced drone developments<\/a> more broadly. Russia<\/a>, India<\/a>, Turkey<\/a>, and France<\/a> are also pursuing flying wing UCAVs.<\/p>\n Lockheed Martin has itself talked for years now about visions<\/a> for future advanced drones and crewed-uncrewed teaming<\/a> that include many different tiers of capability. Vectis is certainly not the only drone design the company is working on. Sanchez highlighted this past week that roughly 97 percent of what Skunk Works does is classified. On the other hand, the public disclosure of Vectis makes clear that the company sees this as an important play in the expanding CCA market space.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in progress now on the Vectis prototype. Parts are ordered, the team is in [sic] work, and we intend to fly in the next two years,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cOur operational analysis shows a wide swath of capability that Vectis provides in multiple mission areas that are going to be relevant and solve hard problems that we couldn\u2019t solve without this kind of collaboration. So we\u2019ll continue to evolve that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs things change, we\u2019ll make changes. We\u2019re not afraid to do that, and this shows that evolution of thought and adaptation to the mission needs,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n It will be interesting to see how the development of Vectis now proceeds, especially within the larger and still evolving CCA space globally.<\/p>\n Contact the author: joe@twz.com<\/p>\n Joseph has been a member of The War Zone team since early 2017. Prior to that, he was an Associate Editor at War Is Boring, and his byline has appeared in other publications, including Small Arms Review, Small Arms Defense Journal, Reuters, We Are the Mighty, and Task & Purpose.<\/p>\n \t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bahrain-block-70-f-16d.jpg\")
An example of a current-generation Block 70 F-16. This particular example, built for Bahrain, is seen during a test flight in 2024. USAF <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cmmt-d-testing.jpg\")
Pictures from testing of a variant of the CMMT designed to be dropped via a palletized munition system, giving a sense of the size of the drones in that family. Lockheed Martin <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758439688_523_hqdefault.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skunk-works-stealth-tanker.jpg\")
A rendering of a stealthy aerial refueling tanker concept that Skunk Works first showed publicly last year. Lockheed Martin Skunk Works <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/chinese-air-combat-drones-parade-beijing-2025.jpg\")
New Chinese air combat drones, including one with a lambda-type wing, on parade in Beijing on September 3, 2025. Chinese internet <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/airbus-wingman-render.jpg\")
A rendering of Airbus\u2019 Wingman drone concept. Airbus <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/air-to-air-vignette-captures.jpg\")
Screen captures from the promotional video showing portions of the air-to-air vignette depicted therein. Lockheed Martin captures <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758439689_186_hqdefault.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/vectis-teaming-render.jpg\")
A rendering of Vectis flying together with other drones, as well as a crewed F-35. Lockheed Martin <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/control-interface-capture.jpg\")
A screen capture from the Agile Drone Framework video depicting a touch-screen control interface on the wide-area display in the cockpit of an F-35. A stealthy flying wing uncrewed aircraft and CMMTs are shown along with Vectis drones (labeled SCCAs) as being ready to receive orders. Lockheed Martin capture <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lockheed-martin-teaming-vision.jpg\")
Artwork Skunk Works released back in 2022 showing a flying wing uncrewed aircraft and other tiers of drones together with an F-35. Lockheed Martin Skunk Works <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/yfq-42-yfq-44-render.jpg\")
A composite rendering of the YFQ-44A, at top, and the YFQ-42A, at bottom, now in development under Increment 1 of the US Air Force\u2019s CCA program. USAF composite artwork courtesy General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. and Anduril Industries <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/vectis-air-to-surface-strike.jpg\")
Vectis drones depicted firing air-to-surface missiles at an enemy air defense site. Lockheed Martin capture <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758439690_863_hqdefault.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skunk-works-drones-capture.jpg\")
Another capture from the Agile Drone Framework video showing renderings of various different drone designs, including Vectis (at lower left), the CMMT (at upper right), and the stealthy flying-wing (at lower right). Lockheed Martin capture <\/p>\n