The Air Force will soon award study contracts for prototype engines to power Collaborative Combat Aircraft. But the service insists it is leaving the door open to a wide range of options and thrust classes.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin is pushing for platforms that are “built to adapt” rapidly to new advacements in technology. “Why? The pace of change,” he told Air & Space Forces Magazine recently.
Anduril Industries announced it is planning futuristic factories that will build weapons the way disruptive startups like SpaceX and Tesla have built rockets and cars. The company has raised $1.5 billion for the facilities, which will focus on low-cost autonomous systems, including Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
Advances in artificial intelligence and software development will be key to two of the Air Force’s top programs: the DAF Battle Network, which connects sensors and shooters around the globe, and Collaborative Combat Aircraft autonomous drones, service acquisition executive Andrew Hunter said Aug. 7
The Air Force will "pause" the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program while it evaluates whether it meets the Air Force’s needs and budgetary requirements, Secretary Frank Kendall said July 30. The advanced fighter was originally supposed to enter service around 2030.
With the Air Force's fighter plans in flux—the Next-Generation Air Dominance program’s future in doubt and the F-22 potentially being extended—Collaborative Combat Aircraft autonomous drones will be all the more important for restoring capacity to the fleet, the head of Air Combat Command said July ...
The Air Force will likely award a contract or contracts for the first increment of Collaborative Combat Aircraft in late September or early October, sources familiar with the program said. It’s not yet been decided if the Air Force will carry one or both of ...
The Air Force released the first video of a new experimental drone in flight. General Atomics’ XQ-67A is intended to prepare the service for its future fleet of autonomous collaborative combat aircraft, and the company has called the drone a “CCA prototype."
The Enterprise Test Vehicles being evaluated by the Air Force and Defense Innovation Unit are chiefly aimed at exploring modular technologies and rapid manufacturing approaches, not necessarily producing a weapon, Pentagon officials said. But the door is open to such an outcome if the program ...
The Air Force is already looking past the initial contracts it has awarded for the first autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft and is sketching out plans for the second batch of aircraft, Chief of Staff David W. Allvin said May 7. The approach is intended to ...
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall caught a ride in the front seat of a modified, artificial intelligence-piloted F-16 on May 2, a high-profile show of confidence in the service’s autonomous technologies—and another key step in maturing that technology for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.
The Air Force only expects to field about 100 Collaborative Combat Aircraft during the next five years, but that the tempo of the program will yield new contracts about every two years, Secretary Frank Kendall said.