For the first time, USAF sends the RQ-1 Predator remotely piloted aircraft on flights in a combat zone, flying reconnaissance over Serbia during Allied Force. (The Army employed the ACTD Predator over Bosnia for Deliberate Force in 1995.)
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft will be operational in the late 2020s, several years before the Next-Generation Air Dominance family of systems, Air Force officials told the House Armed Services tactical aviation panel. The CCAs will first be “shooters,” then electronic warfare platforms, then sensors, in that order, they added.