The US Air Force has reportedly chosen RTX and Shield AI to provide autonomous capabilities for the first increment of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) operational prototypes.
RTX will integrate its mission autonomy suite into the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) YFQ-42A, while Shield AI will integrate its Hivemind artificial intelligence-powered autonomy software stack into Anduril’s YFQ-44A drone.
These capabilities are intended to guide the CCA to autonomously execute complex tasks during missions, including intercepting enemy aircraft or hunting them down first.
Both companies will receive government funding to continue developing the software on the drones, according to sources who disclosed the information to Aviation Week.
However, the air force has not yet given an official statement regarding the selections, saying that “all subcontractors are protected by enhanced security measures,” as quoted by Breaking Defense.
CCA Progress
The US Air Force’s CCA program is a pivotal effort to develop autonomous or semi-autonomous uncrewed aircraft to work alongside crewed fighter aircraft, such as the F-22 Raptor, as their “loyal wingmen.”
Five defense companies competed to develop designs for the program, but were beaten out by GA-ASI and Anduril last year.
In March, the pitched prototypes received their fighter drone designations — a first in the service’s history — and underwent a series of tests starting in May.
While GA-ASI’s YFQ-42A completed its maiden flight in August, Anduril’s YFQ-44A is scheduled for October as it is working on upgrading the software for the semi-autonomous flight control system, according to Diem Salmon, Anduril VP for Air Dominance and Strike.
