The U.S. Air Force has moved its Collaborative Combat Aircraft program into production with contracts for General Atomics and Anduril. The FQ-42A and FQ-44A now shift from prototype status to the first operational build phase, ending the contest for Increment 1 hardware.
The service is buying semi-autonomous wingmen to extend range, survivability, and sensor reach for crewed fighters, while preserving a dual-vendor structure that keeps competition alive and industrial risk split. The initial target is more than 150 combat-capable aircraft by the end of the decade, with the wider fleet set to scale toward roughly 1,000 over time.
The award puts America’s CCA concept on a production clock, not a demonstration timeline.