The Air Force on Wednesday said it narrowed the field of the first Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) technology effort from five to two teams, led by Anduril and General Atomics.
This downselect, coming as an option exercise decision, comes after the Air Force in January confirmed it contracted with five teams on CCA Increment 1, led by Anduril,
Boeing [BA], General Atomics, Lockheed Martin [LMT], and Northrop Grumman [NOC] (Defense Daily, Jan. 24).
The service said Anduril and General Atomics will move forward for detailed designs, manufacture, and testing of production-representative test articles for the CCA program.
The Air Force also highlighted the other companies not selected for production readiness CCA vehicles and flight test will remain part of the “broader industry partner vendor pool” of more than 20 companies that can compete on future efforts, including future production contracts for CCA Increment 1.
The CCA program is part of the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance Family of Systems that aims to equip the service with both crewed and uncrewed platforms for future challenges.
“Just over 2 years ago, we announced our intent, as part of our Operational Imperatives, to pursue collaborative combat aircraft. Now, following the enactment of the fiscal year 2024 budget, we’re exercising option awards to two companies to construct production representative test articles. The progress we’ve made is a testament to the invaluable collaboration with industry, whose investment alongside the Air Force has propelled this initiative forward. It’s truly encouraging to witness the rapid execution of this program,” Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said in the announcement of this downselect.
In February, Kendall told reporters the service would narrow the contractor teams for the first CCA technology effort from five to two or three within months (Defense Daily, Feb. 13).
At the time Kendall said although the service prefers to move down to three teams it would be difficult given the level of program funding in the budget without cost sharing from industry.
He said this next phase moves CCA into development for production before a further downselect for production ‘in a couple of years.”
In fiscal year 2025 the Air Force is also set to award contracts for concept definition and preliminary design of the CCA Increment 2, which Kendall said may include international partners.
The service confirmed all current and potential future industry partners from the CCA vendor pool will compete in the Increment 2 follow-on effort.
“We executed an acquisition and funding strategy for CCA with early operator, technologist, acquirer, and industry teaming to quickly iterate requirements given our fielding timelines. Continuous competition is a cornerstone at every stage of this program. The transparency and teamwork between industry and government really accelerated how quickly we could mature the CCA program,” Kendall added in the Wednesday announcement.
The Air Force also confirmed it is on track to make a competitive production decision for the first increment of CCA in fiscal year 2026, with the goal of fielding a fully operational capability before the end of the decade.
“There is no time to waste on business as usual. With the CCA program, Secretary Kendall and the Air Force have embraced a fast-moving, forward-looking approach to field autonomous systems at speed and scale. We are honored to be selected for this unprecedented opportunity, which signals a demand for continued expansion of the defense industrial base,” Brian Schimpf, CEO and Co-Founder of Anduril, said in a statement.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) president David R. Alexander said that “the USAF is moving forward with GA-ASI due to our focused commitment to unmanned air-to-air combat operations and unmatched UAS experience, ensuring the production of the CCA aircraft at scale to deliver affordable combat mass for the warfighter.”
GA-ASI specified this selection will have the company build the CCA production-representative flight test articles for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Advanced Aircraft Division.
GA-ASI also noted it successfully conducted the initial flight of its XQ-67A CCA prototype in February and later completed two more test flights. It said its CCA design is based on the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station.