US Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA)

The Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) programme is the US Air Force effort to field uncrewed combat aircraft that operate with crewed fighters in contested airspace. In 2024 the Air Force gave initial contracts to five companies and then picked Anduril and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems to build Increment 1 production-representative test aircraft; General Atomics' YFQ-42A first flew in August 2025 and Anduril's YFQ-44A in October 2025. In June 2026 the Air Force awarded both companies development and production contracts covering the first three lots, as the FQ-42A Dark Merlin and FQ-44A Fury, with a goal of delivering more than 150 aircraft by the end of the decade. Requirements for a follow-on Increment 2 are still being defined.