The U.S. Air Force has moved the Collaborative Combat Aircraft programme into production, awarding contracts to General Atomics for the YFQ-42A and Anduril Industries for the YFQ-44A. The aircraft are designed as unmanned wingmen for crewed fighters, extending range, sensor coverage and weapons capacity without adding a pilot to the cockpit.
The award shifts CCA from prototype work to procurement and puts two attritable jet designs on a production path. The service is targeting more than 150 aircraft by the end of the decade, with a longer-range objective of roughly 1,000, signalling a broader pivot toward mass, autonomy and manned-unmanned teaming in contested airspace.
For the sector, the message is clear: autonomous combat airpower is moving from concept to buyable hardware.