The U.S. Air Force has named its first two Collaborative Combat Aircraft as General Atomics’ FQ-42 Vengeance and Anduril Industries’ FQ-44 Fury, while setting a target to field about 1,000 semi-autonomous combat aircraft and have 500 operational by 2032. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink outlined the plan at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
The new milestone gives industry a clearer production benchmark for a programme that has moved from broad ambition to a more defined force structure. The aircraft are intended to operate alongside crewed fighters, including the F-35 and the future F-47, extending reach, awareness, survivability and strike capacity in contested environments.
The Air Force has not disclosed how the eventual fleet will be split between the two named aircraft or any later variants. The 500-by-2032 objective sharpens a wider modernisation push that centres on human-machine teaming and a rapid increase in autonomous combat aviation capacity.