The House Appropriations Committee wants the Air Force to be more open about how it manages its multibillion-dollar weapons acquisition programs to ensure they are fully funded and ready for the next fight.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s first trip to Capitol Hill to argue for next year’s Pentagon budget shed new light on funding for some of the Air Force’s top-priority acquisition programs, even as the department continues to hide its 2026 request from view.
The Air Force on June 5 stood up a new unit to figure out how to use drone wingmen, known as "Collaborative Combat Aircraft," in future air wars.
The F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter will have a combat radius of greater than 1,000 miles—nearly double that of the F-22—and the Air Force plans to acquire more than 185 of them, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin revealed. The first Collaborative Combat Aircraft, ...
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.
The Air Force's new Aircraft Readiness Unit will maintain and provide Collaborative Combat Aircraft for operations, but won’t serve as a “schoolhouse” teaching fighter pilots how to manage these escort drones.
The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has unveiled a new electronic warfare drone designed to fly with fighter jets into contested airspace, including alongside its fleet of F-35s. RAF says it plans to develop models that draw on the U.S. Air Force’s approach of mating unmanned ...
The two prototypes for the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program have started ground testing, Air Force Chief Staff Gen. David W. Allvin announced May 1, ahead of a planned first flight this summer.
The new defense reconciliation bill includes $7.2 billion for Air Force and Navy aviation accounts, almost half of which will buy more F-15EXs. While electronic warfare, drones, connectivity and airlift all get attention, the F-35 was conspicuously absent from the package, with no explanation given.
The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the ...
While the U.S. Air Force plans to spend big and make Collaborative Combat Aircraft drones an essential part of its tactical fleet in the near future, the U.S. Navy is working to team manned and unmanned aircraft as well.
A program meant to pave the way for autonomous combat flying technologies took a step forward April 1 with the arrival of the last fighter jet to complete the VENOM test fleet.