Colorado Springs, Colo.—The Air Force’s light attack aircraft experiment scheduled for this summer at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, will be about clarifying capabilities, not selecting sources, Air Force Materiel Command boss Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski said at a press briefing at the 33rd Space Symposium here Thursday. “It’s not specific, it’s not a down select, it’s not a lead into a program of record. It’s purely to collect the right data to help us make that decision,” she said. The Air Force is particularly interested in how a light attack aircraft can interact with the fifth-generation capabilities of the F-22 and F-35. The experiment is aimed at helping the Air Force understand the “feasibility” of “a high/low mix, you know, of a combination of aircraft,” Pawlikowski said. “We’re trying to get good data to make sure we understand what a light attack type of capability will provide to our abilities in air superiority and supporting ground operations.”
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.