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On Aug. 29, in partnership with Northrop Grumman (Falls Church, Va., U.S.), Scaled Composites LLC (Mojave, Calif., U.S.) announced the first flight of its most recent vehicle, the Model 437 Vanguard, a stealthy aircraft concept.

Under development since 2021, the Model 437 was originally designed as an advanced loyal wingman air combat drone. Based on the Model 401, the concept explores a multi-mission, low-cost attritable aircraft. It is a crewed variant of the original concept powered by a single Pratt & Whitney (San Diego, Calif., U.S.) 535 engine with approximately 3,400 pounds of thrust. The aircraft has a wingspan of 41 feet and is 41 feet long with a gross takeoff weight of 10,000 pounds. After completion of envelope expansion, the M437 Vanguard will have a range of approximately 3,000 nautical miles and an endurance of 6 hours. The aircraft can carry up to 2,000 pounds of payload in multiple locations including an internal weapons bay sized to accommodate two AIM-120s.

Scaled Composites leveraged extensive experience in rapid design, fabrication and testing of experimental aircraft to develop the Model 437 Vanguard. This included a clean sheet aircraft design, aerodynamic and structural analysis, fuselage and empennage fabrication, aircraft assembly, systems integration, and ground and flight test execution. Northrop Grumman defined, developed, built and verified the removable wing assemblies using advanced digital tools and processes as part of its Digital Pathfinder effort.

“The first flight was in a good jet with a great team,” Brian Maisler, test pilot, says. “Thanks to everyone and their 2 years of hard work.”