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Collaborative Combat Aircraft

Modern fighters are very expensive. The F-35 and the F-15EX cost about $100 million each, NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance) will cost over $300 million and will be bought in small numbers [about 200]. The uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft was an opportunity to address the cost and the quantity issues with relatively inexpensive but very highly cost-effective platforms added to the fleet. The National Defense Strategy was clear in its focus on China as the USA's pacing threat.

The Department of the Air Force made the decision 24 April 2024 to continue funding Anduril and General Atomics for detailed designs, manufacture, and testing of production representative test articles under the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program. The companies not selected to build these production representative CCA vehicles, and execute the flight test program, will continue to be part of the broader industry partner vendor pool consisting of more than 20 companies to compete for future efforts, including future production contracts.

“Just over two years ago, we announced our intent, as part of our Operational Imperatives, to pursue collaborative combat aircraft. Now, following the enactment of the fiscal year 2024 budget, we're exercising option awards to two companies to construct production representative test articles. The progress we've made is a testament to the invaluable collaboration with industry, whose investment alongside the Air Force has propelled this initiative forward. It's truly encouraging to witness the rapid execution of this program,” said Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. The CCA program was part of the Next Generation Air Dominance Family of Systems, which was a DAF effort to equip the force with crewed and uncrewed platforms that can meet the pacing challenge. “We executed an acquisition and funding strategy for CCA with early operator, technologist, acquirer, and industry teaming to quickly iterate requirements given our fielding timelines. Continuous competition is a cornerstone at every stage of this program. The transparency and teamwork between industry and government really accelerated how quickly we could mature the CCA program,” Kendall said.

“As we navigate the next phase of CCA development, our collaboration with both current and potential industry partners remains pivotal. Their expertise, innovation, and resources are instrumental in driving this initiative forward, ensuring its success and impact on future operations,” said Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Andrew Hunter.

The DAF was on track to make a competitive production decision for the first increment of CCA in fiscal year 2026 and field a fully operational capability before the end of the decade. The DAF’s option exercise decision does not exclude any of the vendors from competing for the future Increment 1 production contract. The DAF was exploring international partnerships, to include potential Foreign Military Sales, as part of the CCA program. These partnerships will help provide further affordable mass at scale while driving horizontal integration and interoperability across our international partnerships.

Planning for CCA Increment 2 development was also ongoing, with initial activities starting later in 2024. All current and potential future industry partners from the CCA vendor pool will compete for this follow-on effort. The CCA program aims to deliver at least 1,000 CCAs, prioritizing cost-effective scalability. With air superiority pivotal to America's military dominance for more than 70 years, CCA offers expanded fighter capacity (affordable mass) at reduced costs and adaptable timelines.

China was expanding its exclusive economic zone and successful combat air operations in an Indo-Pacific contingency will be increasingly dependent on unmanned Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) to supplement finite numbers of fifth and sixth generation fighter aircraft. The program encourages continued clarification of manned-unmanned aircraft teaming concepts and investment in cost-effective, limited-life technologies to facilitate this emerging warfighting concept. Additionally, these technologies can provide a sustainable long-term training solution for adversary air applications, which will become increasingly critical as the Department of Defense seeks to resolve its current pilot shortage and pilot training deficiencies. While Air Force leadership has actively championed this capability, development poses a uniquely challenging business case for industry, exemplified by the lack of aftermarket services. Without sufficient Department of Defense investment, industry could face delays that could put the 2030 early operational capability goals at risk. In particular, a clear plan for cost-effective, large attritable engine technologies was necessary to inform operational concepts, aircraft requirements, and procurement quantities.

Department of the Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee 09 April 2024 the department, “needs immediate and significant capability modernization to keep pace with the growing military capabilities of the PRC,” Kendall said, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China. “We remain committed to the (sixth generation aircraft) family of systems, particularly Collaborative Combat Aircraft, which will allow the Air Force to deliver the affordable mass required to be effective against the very capable PRC,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said, describing the newest generation of fighter aircraft and a suite of less expensive and autonomous aircraft. “We are also committed to building forward basing resilient enough to enable continued sortie generation, even while under attack.”

The Air Force’s new B-21 long-range bomber was one of the first assets to operate within a “family of systems” that would accompany the aircraft during operations. Although little was exactly known about what that entails, it could include autonomous collaborative platforms such as drones that fly alongside and support the aircraft.23 5G sensors and edge computing would allow for the system to be fully autonomous and deconflict within itself and with outside obstacles. Another potential capability was to have unmanned escort in defense of the aircraft with armed drones or loitering munitions. Loitering munitions are autonomous platforms that operate similar to drones and can fly for extended periods of time with the sole purpose of finding and striking an enemy target. They can be ground launched or onboard the supported aircraft and launched when needed. The Air Force was continuing to invest in this capability referred to as “Collaborative Combat Aircraft.”

For the Air Force, their fiscal year 2025 through fiscal year 2029 plan includes divesting 593 fighter aircraft but only buying back 244 new F-35A and F-15EX aircraft. While the Air Force’s new Collaborative Combat Aircraft concept may hold promise in affordability and making up for fighter capacity shortfalls, there was still a long road ahead integrating autonomous capability seamlessly among manned platforms.

For the future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) Request for Information (RFI 1) Notice ID LPA-23-CCA issued 29 Septembe 2023, the government sought information on engine options that provide platform capability to achieve United States Government (USG) objectives. This RFI focuses on capability at discrete intervals defined as near (3 years), mid (5 years), and far (7 years) terms from a program initiation assumed to be Q1FY25. For these intervals, the government questions seek information on capability vs. cost, schedule, and risk centered on off-the-shelf, modified off-the-shelf, derivative, and new engine designs. For the purpose of this response, the engine characteristics of interest include 3000-8000 lbf thrust class engines. For the purpose of this response, the desired aircraft characteristics of interest for evaluating the enabling capabilities of the engine's options are as follows: increased range, reduced runway take-off distance, increased Mach capability, increased power and thermal capacity, and increased payload.