USAF plans major CCA expansion with new suppliers and billions in funding
A YFQ-42A takes off during flight testing. (Photo: US Air Force)
US Air Force leaders say open architecture and broader industry participation will help deliver affordable autonomous wingmen capable of overwhelming future adversaries.
The US Air Force (USAF) intends to include new suppliers in the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) programme in an effort to reduce costs and ensure the future family of attritable, affordable, risk-tolerant autonomous systems will have an open architecture with relevant capabilities for tomorrow’s warfare.
“We have competition, open standards that allow us to bring in separate contracts for different pieces of the hardware, additional contractors from the avionics to the aircraft bodies themselves and engines,” the Secretary of the Air Force, Troy E Meink, explained in a session at the Senate Appropriation Committee on 9 June.
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