The U.S. Air Force is acquiring additional collaborative combat aircraft, or CCAs, to test how the drones will operate in battle.
Andrew Hunter, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, said that he recently authorized the purchase of more CCAs for the service branch’s experimental operations unit, DefenseNews reported Friday. With this additional purchase, Hunter looks forward to further testing and development of CCAs.
“You learn a lot when you get into flight test,” Hunter said. “But … it’s [also] the approach to production, the people demonstrating they can scale to the rates that we envision for this platform, and that are necessary for it to be affordable mass.”
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How Do CCAs Operate?
CCAs are uncrewed drones designed to travel next to F-35 joint strike fighters and the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter. The drone also features mission capabilities, including striking adversarial targets, observing threats and jamming enemy signals.
Hunter emphasized that the Air Force aims to move swiftly through the CCA program and has already begun considering how to develop the drones and keep future maintenance costs down. He also noted that the airworthiness of CCAs will be tested differently than that of previous autonomous aircraft.
“We think about airworthiness differently,” Hunter stated. “With prior uncrewed aircraft that we’ve procured, we’ve kind of done airworthiness largely the old way, and we really need to do it in a fundamentally new way.”
Frank Kendall, Air Force secretary and 2024 Wash100 awardee, reportedly wants CCAs to cost a “fraction” of an F-35, which can be between $80 million to $100 million.
General Atomics & Anduril CCAs
In April, the Air Force tapped General Atomics and Anduril to develop CCAs under two option awards. Hunter said the service branch plans to acquire both Anduril’s Fury and General Atomics’ Gambit CCAs for the experimental operations unit.
“I think both vendors have an opportunity to succeed, and it’s entirely conceivable that we could move forward with both,” Hunter stated.
You can learn more about the Air Force’s emerging autonomous capabilities at the 2025 Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 23. Claim your tickets to the 2025 Defense R&D Summit now!