Who said the primes don’t move fast enough?
Sixteen months after they scored a contract to build an autonomous friend for fighter jets (technical term), General Atomics’ YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) took flight on Wednesday. For now, GA has first-flight bragging rights, but Anduril—the other company selected for the CCA program—says it is close behind.
New toys: CCA is a key part of the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. The idea is to build autonomous fighter jets that can fly alongside manned aircraft as part of a hybrid force. General Atomics and Anduril were both tapped to build prototypes for the program in April 2024.
Here’s a little more about these “loyal wingmen”:
- The “fighter drones” are intended to operate with crewed aircraft, which the Air Force says would provide “affordable mass” to the fighter fleet at roughly one-third the price of crewed fighters, according to former Secretary Kendall.
- The Air Force awarded initial design contracts to Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics (GA), Lockheed, and Northrop in January 2024 before selecting Anduril and GA to build production-representative versions of the CCA.
- The CCA is jet-powered and AI-enabled, performing missions like air-to-air and air-to-ground strikes, electronic warfare, sensing/targeting, and ISR.
- The Air Force is looking to buy 1,000 of these puppies, based on the assumption that each of the Air Force’s 500 advanced fighters would use two CCAs.
GA’s CCA is based on the “Gambit” framework, a family of modular uncrewed aircraft with the same engine and base frame introduced in 2022. The Air Force is looking to order 100+ CCAs over the next five years under Increment 1, which means the drones could look a bit different across at least three iteration stages before reaching operational capability by the end of the decade. A final production decision is expected next year.
Sky-high spirits: The Air Force, which is facing pressure on the modernization front, is pretty psyched about the CCA test flight. “This milestone showcases what’s possible when innovative acquisition meets motivated industry,” Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said in a post on X. “The CCA went from concept to flight in just 16 months after the contract was awarded—proving that we can deliver combat capability at speed!”
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, who recently announced his departure amid disputes with Meink over force structure, as first reported by Tectonic, said in a statement, “We’re not just moving fast—we’re learning fast. CCA will help us rethink the battlespace, extend reach, flexibility and lethality in combat operations, and optimize warfighter performance through human-machine teaming.”
Neo-prime vs. Prime: Anduril’s YFQ-44A, their version of the CCA, is based on their Fury UAV and was ground tested in May. In a statement, Dr. Jason Levin, SVP of Engineering, Air Dominance, and Strike at Anduril, congratulated General Atomics and said, “Flight test is one of those milestones that you just can’t help but get excited about, no matter where you sit.”
A spokesperson for Anduril told Tectonic that “flight testing for Anduril’s YFQ-44A will begin soon.”
A little head-to-head competition between the new and old guard is shaping up to be an exciting way for the Pentagon to spice and speed things up on the innovation front—especially since other vendors can still compete for CCA production contracts. Popcorn, anyone?