The Air Force’s new Collaborative Combat Aircraft will take part in their first large-force engagement exercise in December, the head of the drones’ Experimental Operations Unit said Sept. 15.
CCA
The Air Force plans to field at least 500 semi-autonomous fighter drones known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft by 2032, and another 500 cheap reconnaissance and strike drones known as Massed Modular Aircraft that same year, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said Sept. 14.
Lockheed Martin’s proposed autonomous drone, called Vectis, is still on track to fly a prototype by the end of 2027, an official from the company’s Skunk Works division said Sept. 10, and the firm already started work on four more Vectis aircraft.
The Air Force announced Aug. 13 it recently tested prototypes for a portable ground station for commanding and controlling semi-autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft, and a spokesperson now says the plan is to award a contract for the effort next summer.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), the company that introduced the world to unmanned warfare, has systematically transformed its aircraft lineup to address the defining requirements of modern high-technology warfare: range, persistence, payload, survivability, and scale against advanced adversaries. The...
The Air Force’s Experimental Operations Unit hosted a change of command ceremony recently, another sign of how the CCA concept is maturing and becoming entrenched in the Air Force’s structure, to the point where exercises have generated multiple sorties in a single day to simulate ...
The Air Force’s new Collaborative Combat Aircraft may fly scores of missions over many years or only a few if commanders decide a mission is worth the risk of losing one, a top official said this week—a middle ground approach he called “optionally attritable.”
Both the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A Collaborative Combat Aircraft headed to Creech Air Force Base, Nev., last week for an exercise focused on employing the semi-autonomous drones in more austere environments.
For former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, building Airmen’s trust in Collaborative Combat Aircraft is a crucial step in the fast-moving development and deployment of the semi-autonomous drones.
One of the Air Force’s developmental Collaborative Combat Aircraft fired a live missile in a recent test, marking a critical step forward in the development of the service’s fleet of semi-autonomous drone fighters.
The Air Force’s “software sold separately” plan to buy critical autonomy software decoupled from the physical air vehicle for its nascent Collaborative Combat Aircraft fleet could help the drones evolve quickly, foster competition, and avoid vendor lock-in, experts and service officials told Air & Space ...
The Air Force got a glimpse of its potential future this week, when an F-15EX fighter flew alongside a Collaborative Combat Aircraft during a major Pacific exercise.
