GA-ASI's XQ-67A is a close cousin of its CCA vehicle, which has now passed CDR. (GA-ASI)
Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) designs from both Anduril and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) have passed critical design review (CDR), the final design checkpoint before construction, a US Air Force (USAF) programme leader said on 13 November.
“Both industry teammates are on the path to first flight on a timeline that allows us to get operational capability by the end of the decade,” Colonel Timothy Helfrich, the senior material leader of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Advanced Aircraft Division, said at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies' Airpower Futures Forum. “We are on track, if not ahead, in some areas.”
The two companies were selected to provide prototype CCAs in April 2024, with first flights expected in 2025. A production contract is scheduled to be awarded in fiscal year (FY) 2026, with entry into service by 2030; both the production contract and future tranches are expected to be competitively bid. The USAF expects to procure at least 1,000 CCAs, service officials have stated.
Pressing CCAs into service on schedule and ramping up production are the programme's foremost priorities, Col Helfrich stressed, noting that the first tranche of operational CCAs would have limited capabilities in comparison to their successors.
Although intended to be capable in contested areas, CCAs are not likely to be equipped with cutting-edge technology. The goal behind the programme is to extend the USAF's lethal reach, and to provide ‘affordable mass' on the battlefield, overwhelming the enemy with potential targets at a relatively low price point.
Work on Tranche 2 is just beginning, Col Helfrich said, with conceptual formulation set to begin in the current fiscal year.
Looking to read the full article?
Gain unlimited access to Janes news and more...
