One of the Department of the Air Force’s prototype platforms for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCA, program performed its inaugural flight at a test location in California as it transitions to the flight testing phase.
The Air Force said Wednesday it developed the CCA platform, YFQ-42A, with General Atomics.
Achieving Development Milestone in Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft Program
“This milestone showcases what’s possible when innovative acquisition meets motivated industry,” said Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink. “In record time, CCA went from concept to flight — proving we can deliver combat capability at speed when we clear barriers and align around the warfighter.”
The YFQ-42A test flight generated data to support continued assessments of the platform’s flight autonomy, mission system integration and airworthiness.
“This is More Air Force in action,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin. “We’re not just moving fast — we’re learning fast. CCA will help us rethink the battlespace, extend reach, flexibility and lethality in combat operations, and optimize warfighter performance through human-machine teaming.”
What Is the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft Program?
CCA is a component of the Next Generation Air Dominance Family of Systems and seeks to integrate open-systems architectures to facilitate the continuous iteration of autonomy and mission systems capabilities.
The program implements a multifaceted learning campaign that includes vendor-led developmental testing, independent assessments at Edwards Air Force Base in California and operational evaluation by the Experimental Operations Unit at Nellis AFB in Nevada.
In April 2024, the Air Force selected General Atomics and Anduril to build production-representative prototypes under the CCA program. The service expects to make an Increment 1 production decision in fiscal year 2026.
General Atomics-Built YFQ-42A CCA
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. designed and developed YFQ-42A, an uncrewed jet for air-to-air semi-autonomous operation. Ground testing kicked off in May.
The company used model-based digital engineering to speed up the development of the CCA platform and trained YFQ-42’s autonomy core using its jet-powered MQ-20 Avenger aircraft.
