The U.S. Air Force has awarded contracts for both CCA production and mission autonomy software as part of Program Increment 1.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded several contracts for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, including an Increment 1 aircraft production contract and autonomous mission software. The move marks a further advancement in the U.S. Air Force’s efforts to rapidly field advanced combat capabilities to support crewed aircraft during missions.
The conclusion of these agreements is also part of new acquisition transformation principles aimed at separating hardware and software. The service explained that treating mission autonomy as “separately sold software” allows “effectively breaking the traditional procurement mold by deploying state-of-the-art physical platforms with agile, easily updateable software.”
“Cooperative combat aircraft transform how we project power and generate mass in highly contested environments,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach. “Delivering this capability to our warfighters faster will help our forces maintain the tactical edge they need to deter and, if necessary, defeat our adversaries.”
He further explained that CCA represents the next significant evolution of air power and is designed to integrate seamlessly with crewed fighter aircraft to extend reach, awareness and survivability in contested environments.
hardware
On the hardware side of the program, the Air Force awarded engineering and manufacturing development and production contracts to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) and Anduril for the FQ-42 and FQ-44, respectively. The service explained that the award arrived months ahead of schedule because the two unmanned assets already met stringent mission requirements and were ready for full-scale manufacturing.
In particular, both designs now drop the ‘Y’ designation denoting prototype, while retaining the designation of a UAV (indicated by the ‘Q’ vehicle type code) with the intended role as a fighter aircraft (indicated by the ‘F’ primary mission).
“Moving quickly from competitive selection to full-scale manufacturing allows us to field highly reliable, combat-ready semi-autonomous systems to stay ahead of fast-paced challenges,” said Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink. “This contract reaffirms our confidence in the program’s strategic path to procure more than 150 combat-capable CCAs by the end of the decade.”
The service plans to field approximately 1,000 combat-capable CCAs in multiple increments. Building on the lessons from Increment 1, work on Increment 2 is already underway.
GA-ASI and Anduril note the speed of the program, which went from award-winning prototype to production in just two years. Anduril added that unlike traditional fighter jets, CCAs can be built faster and at larger scale.
software
For software, the Air Force awarded mission autonomy production contracts to a pool of six suppliers, including Anduril, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX Collins Aerospace and Shield AI. Each of them has signed a basic six-year contract that provides a framework for continued competition and rapid software development.
Anduril, RTX Collins Aerospace and Shield AI also signed competitive contracts to accelerate delivery of mission-critical autonomy software. The military explained that this will fund the first of two six-month competitive phases designed to accelerate the deployment of operational software to the warfighter.
After this six-month period, the Air Force will evaluate suppliers’ progress and execute a second competitive award period to select the primary mission autonomy supplier for CCA Increment 1 by summer 2027.
“Mission autonomy is a cornerstone of the CCA concept and ensures we have the latest technology by leveraging a competitive multi-vendor environment,” Meink said. “This approach ensures that our Airmen today have cutting-edge capabilities, but also opens the door to the innovation needed to maintain air superiority.”
The service is also adopting a licensing approach that allows it to license to any of six vendors at any point over the next six years, ensuring it has the best performing and cheapest solution as technology evolves. The Autonomous Government Reference Architecture (A-GRA) is critical to this approach and ensures that autonomous mission software from any vendor can be easily integrated, quickly updated, and ported to a variety of physical aircraft platforms.
cooperative combat aircraft
Development of autonomous systems is progressing faster than expected, leading some to suggest that NGAD’s crewed fighters may not be as essential as initially thought. The combination of CCA with manned platforms such as the F-35 and F-15EX could provide a more affordable and flexible solution to achieve air superiority.
The increase in CCA reflects a shift in the Air Force’s priorities, where a systematic approach may be prioritized over a single focus on expensive manned fighter jets. Combining manned and unmanned systems increases flexibility and the potential to deploy assets in a more distributed and resilient manner.
The Air Force is rapidly advancing CCA development with plans to begin fielding more than 150 units within the next five years. These autonomous systems can perform a variety of missions, from surveillance to direct combat, and can partner with manned platforms to act as force multipliers and perform high-risk missions traditionally performed by manned fighters.
Unlike legacy fighters, the CCA has a modular design, allowing for rapid upgrades and efficient maintenance. Its modular design and open architecture (the latter of which has become a staple of modern military aircraft design) allow it to introduce new capabilities as they become available, resulting in always deploying the latest technology to maintain an advantage in a rapidly evolving battlefield.
In early 2024, Anduril Industries and General Atomics signed a contract to design and test a production-ready CCA, marking a pivotal step for the program. The two companies are developing these unmanned aerial vehicles to support upcoming NGAD fighters, as well as the current F-35 and other manned aircraft, by sharing sensor data, executing coordinated maneuvers, and potentially taking on combat roles.
In early 2025, Gen. David Allvin, then the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff, announced the formal designation of the first two CCAs. The two aircraft, built by General Atomics and Anduril, were designated YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A respectively, marking the first time the US Air Force used the ‘unmanned fighter’ designation.
“We have two Cooperative Fighter prototypes that were on paper a few years ago,” Allvin said. “For the first time in our history, the YFQ-42 Alpha and YFQ-44 Alpha have been assigned fighter designations. Perhaps symbolically, this signals to the world that we are moving into a new chapter in air warfare.”
These two aircraft first flew in August 2025 and October 2025, respectively. Since then, they have been working in close partnership with the service, engaging in a series of tests to demonstrate the required functionality.
The Air Force plans to field a diverse fleet of more than 1,000 CCAs designed in modular configurations for rapid adaptability to weapons, sensor capabilities and mission needs. One notable development in 2024 was the first flight of the XQ-67A, a low-cost drone designed by General Atomics under the Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) program, which occurred in February 2024.
This platform, along with its predecessor, the XQ-58A Valkyrie, demonstrates the “common chassis” concept, which uses shared components across a variety of drone models to streamline production and reduce costs. This approach aims to provide a scalable and cost-effective solution to augment combat capabilities without relying on expensive crewed jets. This is essential given the Air Force’s budget constraints and strategic emphasis on a distributed and resilient force.
“A competitive Increment 1 production decision is expected in fiscal year 2026,” the Air Force said. “Increment 2 development will begin that same year to expand mission coverage and integrate new technologies.”
