Air Force stands up CCA experimental operations unit

An experimental operations unit to test and evaluate the first and future increments of Collaborative Combat Aircraft has officially been stood up at Nellis Air Force Base, NV, according to a service news release.

"This is a pivotal moment for our force," Col. Daniel Lehoski, 53rd wing commander, said in a statement. "The EOU embodies our commitment to rapid innovation and ensuring our warfighters have the most advanced tools to dominate the future battlespace. They are ready to reduce risk in concurrency and deliver capability faster."

The unit was established using dollars appropriated in fiscal year 2024. The first CCAs are expected to be fielded by the end of the decade.

The first CCA increment is being envisioned as missile trucks that would accompany exquisite aircraft like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, B-21 Raider and F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance platform into battle in sizable groups, officials have said.

Anduril Industries and General Atomics Aeronautical Solutions were selected last April for continued funding to develop their CCA airframe designs for the earliest increment of the drones, beating out defense titans Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing in the contest. The service has said it may choose one or both options to produce the first autonomous fighters and that other businesses are also eligible to compete prototypes for this production award on their own dime, with a decision planned for calendar year 2026.

Both prototypes began ground testing in May. This stage of testing includes evaluations on the Anduril Industries-made YFQ-44A’s and GA-ASI-made YFQ-42A’s propulsion systems, avionics, autonomy integration and ground control interfaces, the service said. Flight testing is expected later this summer.

Five vendors are additionally on contract to develop the mission autonomy for CCA increment one, the Air Force announced last July, as part of Project Venom. The names of those businesses are being kept secret due to the program’s classification status, the service has said.

“The deliberate development of mission autonomy tightly coupled with a principled protection of human decision-making is a natural evolution of the Air Force’s tradition of innovation in flight,” the Air Force stated in its news release. “The EOU will play a key role in this process, providing a proving ground for testing and refining human-machine teaming concepts for CCA in realistic scenarios.”

These AI-enabled jets will be primarily guided by an operator in a manned platform but also have the ability to perform solo missions in the event connectivity is severed.

The work being done in the new experimental operations unit will help inform early sustainment, procurement and operational concepts, officials have said. Live testing will eventually take place at Creech Air Force Base, NV, where the service has historically hosted experiments on remotely piloted or unmanned air systems

“The EOU will integrate into the Virtual Warfare Center and the Joint Integrated Test and Training Center Nellis to conduct realistic simulations and refine non-materiel considerations of CCA employment concepts in a virtual environment,” the Air Force wrote in the release. “The unit also plans to conduct live-fly experiments to verify simulation results and optimize tactics, techniques and procedures.”