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1 1 (January 22, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/govesfd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: a Congressional Research Service informing the legislative debate since 1914 0 Updated January 22, 2025 U.S. Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) Wat Are Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA)? The U.S. Air Force is developing a new type of uncrewed weapon system called Collaborative Combat Aircraft. The Air Force contends that CCA is being created as a so-called loyal wingman, a large uncrewed aircraft (UAS) that could fly alongside new and existing crewed fighter jets. The Air Force describes CCAs, powered by jet engines, as potentially able to fly alone or in small groups, and potentially equipped for a variety of missions, including air- to-air combat; air-to-ground combat; electronic warfare; targeting; and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The Air Force says CCAs' Al-driven software would enable collaboration with, and take direction from, human pilots and would serve to expand the fighter fleet and protect human pilots at a lower cost than current fighter jets. Then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall stated that there is a planning assumption of 1,000 CCAs, a number derived by projecting the use of two CCAs for each of 500 advanced fighters. CCAs are part of the Air Force's Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems program (see CRS In Focus IF12805, U.S. Air Force Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Fighter), which also may include a future crewed fighter platform, sensors, weapons, and more. The U.S. Air Force requested $557.1 million in its FY2025 research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) budget request for CCAs. Congress may approve, reject, modify, or choose not to act on the request. Chang ng Concept of Operat ons Aircraft are expensive to develop, buy, and operate. Since the 1990s, the U.S. Air Force's fleet has decreased, in part because of those costs. Former Secretary Kendall has stated CCAs would cost roughly one-third the price of crewed fighters. Service officials also indicate that training on CCAs would occur virtually, so the airframes themselves would fly less, potentially leading to lower maintenance and sustainment costs. The Air Force could therefore potentially purchase them in quantities large enough to buttress its fleet. China's use of anti-access/area-denialt (A2/AD) capabilities, such as long-range missiles and sophisticated air defense systems, has challenged the U.S. Air Force's ability to achieve air superiority (i.e., the ability to control a certain air space to conduct operations without interference from air and missile threats). A tactical fighter fleet that includes CCAs and crewed combat aircraft could potentially help the Air Force to gain air superiority. The Air Force is also pursuing a concept of operations- similar to those being implemented by other military services-called agile combat employment (ACE). Under the ACE concept, operations shift from large, centralized physical infrastructures to a network of dispersed locations. CCAs in those dispersed locations could help the U.S. Air Force add sensors or long-range weapons to its combat aircraft fleet. According to Commander of Air Combat Command General Kenneth S. Wilsbach, the addition of CCAs to the fleet could cause confusion for enemy aircraft and assist the fight for air superiority. You can create mass, and so many targets out in the battlespace that your adversary will have to worry about ... is that something that I have to use some munitions on, Wilsbach said in 2023, when he was Commander of Pacific Air Forces. Initia Research and Development The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Air Force, and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) conducted numerous efforts to develop and test autonomy, software, and modular upgradable platforms during the past decade. The Air Force has sought to develop a pipeline of technologies feeding into CCA, because the integration and employment of autonomous systems in flight is relatively new. Those efforts helped to refine underlying technologies such as digital engineering, agile software, and open mission systems. Another project put Al to the test in three converted F-16 aircraft. The project collected data and conducted artificial intelligence experiments to help teach pilots how autonomous software behaves and reduce risk for CCA. Yet another project sought to demonstrate rapid development of a low-cost aircraft with an open software architecture. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA- ASI) participated by designing, building, testing, and flying the experimental XQ-67A aircraft, which formed the basis for the company's CCAbid. CCA Acquisiton Strategy As noted, former Secretary Kendall stated that the Air Force is using a planning assumption of 1,000 CCAs when analyzing basic organizational structures, training and range requirements, and sustainment concepts. In January 2024, the service awarded initial contracts to five companies to design and build CCAs: Anduril, Boeing, GA-ASI, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. In April, the Air Force announced that two of those companies-Anduril and GA-ASI-won contracts to build production-representative test articles. Kendall told Members of Congress that the Air Force anticipates ordering more than 100 CCAs for Increment 1 in the next five years. The service says vendors not selected would still be eligible to compete for Increment 1 production contracts and future increments. Air Force officials have reportedly said that once Congress approves FY2025 funding, concept development for a second increment can proceed.

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