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.”
Collaborative Combat Aircraft
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 ...
Just over a year after becoming the 27th Secretary of the Air Force, Troy Meink believes he’s making progress on his top priorities—increasing Air Force readiness, modernizing its aircraft fleet, and growing the nascent Space Force. In a June 26 interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine, Meink acknowledged headwinds but said the proof of his progress is in the fiscal ...
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.
The U.S. Air Force is testing out a Collaborative Combat Aircraft in the Pacific this week as part of a large-scale exercise. But the CCA they’re flying is not one the two the service has committed to buying. Boeing’s MQ-28...
The Air Force has selected both General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Anduril Industries to build its first fleet of semi-autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft, based on their YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A drones, respectively.
The Air Force wants about $1 billion to move Collaborative Combat Aircraft into production in fiscal 2027 and accelerate the introduction of this game-changing technology. Congress should support that objective.
An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter teamed up with a General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger drone in a recent test to refine the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft concept, the company said in a May 27 statement.
The YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft has resumed flight testing after a six-week pause initiated when one of the drones crashed in early April.