Specific numbers of certain aircraft types will be less important to the Air Force’s future fighter force structure than a focus on manned-unmanned teaming driven by Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said March 7. Indeed, Allvin suggested at the annual McAleese Defense ...
The Air Force is close to awarding at least two and maybe three contracts for the first increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, Secretary Frank Kendall said. The first deals for Increment 2, despite being still in its early stages, is expected to be ...
The Air Force has awarded contracts to five companies for its Collaborative Combat Aircraft program to design and build unmanned, autonomous aircraft to fly alongside manned platforms, a spokesperson confirmed to Air & Space Forces Magazine: Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Anduril, and General Atomics.
Lawmakers want very tight oversight of the Next Generation Air Dominance fighters and Collaborative Combat Aircraft drones, demanding detailed six-month updates on their progress across a myriad of component categories, according to the 2024 compromise National Defense Authorization Act.
The acting official in charge of shaping the future Air Force revealed new details about the service’s plans for its fleet of unmanned wingmen Nov. 15, including the prospect that some of the drones may be aerially refueled to increase their range. The service is ...
There was a secret, multi-agency X-plane program to explore future fighters that paved the way for the Next-Generation Air Dominance program, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall revealed at the POLITICO Defense Summit on Nov. 14.
Testing Collaborative Combat Aircraft—the unmanned, autonomous aircraft that will fly alongside crewed fighters with the goal of beefing up the future Air Force fleet—will require an unprecedented integration of effort from engineers and operators, leaders of the service’s test enterprise said in a recent interview ...
The Air Force wants to keep the competition for its Collaborative Combat Aircraft program open for as long as possible but will eventually choose a contractor to integrate the air vehicle, autonomy, and mission systems of the $5.8 billion program.
The Air Force is puzzled by House Armed Services Committe defense bill language that divides Collaborative Combat Aircraft into three categories and sets cost limits for each. Secretary Frank Kendall said the construct underlying the HASC language service is "not what we're doing," and the ...
New details of the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program—and how it will work together with similar efforts in the Navy—will emerge from AFA’s Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in September, USAF’s program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft said.
The Air Force’s approach to developing Collaborative Combat Aircraft—the uncrewed, autonomous drones to fly alongside manned aircraft—will “break the mold” of traditional acquisition and sustainment, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said July 31. For years, Brown told attendees at the Air Force Life ...
Northrop Grumman won’t bid on the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter, but might go after the Navy's F/A-XX and Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft programs, company CEO Kathy Warden said July 27.