Last July, the USAF announced that it had selected five companies for the development of autonomy-based software solutions to be integrated on the first batch of the future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) fleet.

In reality, the awarding of the contracts would have already taken place months ago, but the Armed Forces decided not to provide detailed information about this, so that even the 5 winners of these first contracts remain classified.

Contractors are tasked to develop a package of autonomy-based software solutions that - once the most suitable one has been selected - will underpin the control logic of all those unmanned platforms that will flank 5th generation, and 6th generation fighters within the 'combat system of the future' - despite uncertainty about the NGAD programme as it is today.

Concretely, UAVs/CCAs are designed to perform various functions and thus be used as an extension of the manned fighter's capabilities as 'flying sensors' and/or armed wingmen capable of scouting and engaging targets, thus avoiding the fighter's exposure to the risks of adversary reactions and thus increasing its survivability.

The USAF expects to have at least 1,000 CCAs in service by the end of 2030; platforms will be developed in 'stages', referred to in the programme as 'increments', with different aircraft models produced in various batches, through which evolutions and new capabilities will be added to the 'mix'.

Last April, the Air Force decided to finance the proposals of Anduril and General Atomics to proceed with the maturation phase of the detailed design and flight demonstration; the final contract, aimed at the actual production of the Increment 1, should be awarded in 2026, in order to deploy the first operational capability by the end of the decade.

In activating the relevant contractual options with Anduril and GA, the USAF has effectively excluded - at least for the fulfilment of this first Increment - the 3 giants of the US aerospace sector: Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.