Jane Edwards
Anduril and General Atomics will design, build and test production-representative Collaborative Combat Aircraft under two option awards exercised by the Department of the Air Force as part of the CCA program.
The CCA program, a part of the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance Family of Systems, seeks to deliver at least 1,000 aircraft to provide the service with expanded fighter capacity, the military branch said Wednesday.
“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,” said Secretary of the Air Force and 2024 Wash100 winner Frank Kendall.
With the option awards, vendors that are part of the broader industry pool can still compete for future contracts, including the Increment 1 production contract and Increment 2 development effort.
The department is set to award the CCA Increment 1 production contract in fiscal year 2026 and plans to deploy a fully operational capability aircraft before the end of 2030.
“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 noted.
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