The Air Force wants to carry two contractors into the production phase of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, but there’s no fixed limit or minimum of work that they can win, the service’s Program Executive Officer for fighters and advanced aircraft told reporters July 29.
Brig. Gen. Jason Voorheis, speaking with the press at Air Force Life Cycle Industry Days in Dayton, Ohio, acknowledged that in the past, the Air Force has awarded leader-follower production arrangements on engines when the service wanted to ensure competition and preserve the industrial base. But there’s no fixed amount of work that either Anduril or General Atomics, the two main competitors for CCA Increment 1, can win, he said. Nor will they necessarily build on the same timeline.
“It is likely that we will carry both of those vendors through to production,” Voorheis said of the two companies, which were chosen for Increment 1 in April.
“There’s a lot of flexibility in the contracting mechanism to vary when those awards happen,” if one is “more advanced than the other in terms of schedule and the quantities. So those are some variables and dials we have,” he said.
“Our intent is to create a sustained competitive model that allows optionality to pick the most effective system and to surge over time,” Voorheis said. The choice of how many of each will be based on the “operational environment,” and production numbers goal should not be viewed as “an equal share.”
He added that “we’re not going into it with any notion of equals, an equal split or a specific 60/40 split,” he said. “It will be wholly dependent on the features” offered by the two vendors, and then “the capacity that the department, our joint partners, or international partners, need.”
Voorheis said there’s been “some confusion” about when the CCA contracts will be awarded. The Air Force hasn’t announced when it will award a production contract for CCA Increment 2 , but will award a production contract for Increment 1 in 2026, PEO office officials said.
He also emphasized that the fiscal year 2026 awards will be competitive, and potentially include other contractors that were not selected for Increment 1.
“So not only can those two [Anduril and General Atomics] compete, but the other vendors that were part of the design work earlier on have an ability to compete as well for Increment 1 production.”