Overview
- The Air Force has moved its first Collaborative Combat Aircraft designs from prototyping into production and on July 15, 2026 an unmanned YFQ-44A fired an AIM-120 air-to-air missile in a live-fire test that validated weapons integration with human authority over launch.
- Large-scale exercises at Creech Air Force Base in late July put multiple CCAs into warfighter-run sorties to develop tactics, test command relationships, and speed operational feedback for integrating drones with crewed fighters.
- Increment 2 is now in an approximately 10-month concept refinement phase that Col. Timothy Helfrich says will winnow nine vendors toward up to six conceptual designs before prototyping while keeping the competition open across later phases.
- The Air Force has funded parallel propulsion work for multiple thrust classes and the Defense Innovation Unit’s Mass Modular Aircraft effort is advancing concept awards toward decisions in early FY2027 to replace MQ-9A capabilities with cheaper, more loss-tolerant designs.
- Officials say the effort aims to extend sensor and combat reach, lower cost per capability, and preserve human control of force release; the program’s rapid prototyping approach and engine investments also seek to revive suppliers and shape an industrial base for buying large numbers of autonomous aircraft.