Lockheed Martin Vectis Drone: Skunk Works Self-Funds 5 Stealth Aircraft

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works says it is building four additional Vectis autonomous combat aircraft, expanding the program from a single prototype to a fleet of five. The announcement came at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, alongside the first full-scale physical model of a redesigned Vectis. Lockheed is funding all five aircraft itself, with no Air Force contract awarded yet. Skunk Works describes the bet as “stealth first,” aiming to win the next phase of autonomous-drone competition for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) category. Vectis is intended to fly with crewed fighters like the F-35 and F-22 as a robotic wingman using Lockheed’s Multi-Domain Combat System autonomy platform.