Collaborative Combat Aircraft

A Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCA for short, is an unmanned aircraft that operates in conjunction with a piloted combat aircraft. It does not fly alone, but rather as a companion to a human pilot sitting in another aircraft. The pilot can assign tasks to the CCA; the unmanned aircraft carries them out independently. CCAs are not remotely piloted drones in the classic sense — they make many decisions autonomously, without a human controlling every single movement. The concept is being developed primarily by the US Air Force, but is gaining importance worldwide.

Why CCAs are reordering aerial warfare

Modern fighter jets are extremely expensive. A single F-35 stealth fighter costs around 80 million US dollars — on top of that come training costs for the pilot running into the millions. A CCA is meant to be significantly cheaper, often with a target price of under 20 million dollars. This means that for the price of a single fighter jet, the air force can procure an entire squadron of unmanned companions.

The second advantage is the protection of human lives. CCAs can be sent ahead into particularly dangerous areas — for example, to locate enemy air defense systems. If a CCA is shot down in the process, technology is lost, but no human life. The human pilot in the accompanying aircraft remains at a safe distance. This approach fundamentally changes how risk is distributed in combat.

Autonomy, AI, and the role of the human pilot

The heart of a CCA is its software. Onboard AI systems evaluate sensor data in real time, detect threats, and decide on evasive maneuvers — all within milliseconds, faster than a human could react. The human pilot does not issue individual control commands, but rather overarching objectives: such as “secure this zone” or “protect my flank”. The CCA plans the exact route itself.

How far this autonomy may go is politically and ethically contested. May a CCA deploy weapons on its own, without a human making the decision? The US Air Force has so far stated that a human must approve any use of weapons. However, the technical capabilities already go further than that. The balance between human control and machine autonomy is one of the most pressing questions of the entire program.

Then there is the question of communication. In combat, radio signals are frequently jammed. A CCA must therefore also function when the connection to the pilot is briefly interrupted. It needs enough inherent intelligence to bridge a situation on its own — without becoming uncontrollable in the process.

CCAs in current defense programs

The best-known CCA program is run in the US under the name Increment 1 of the US Air Force. Two manufacturers — Anduril and General Atomics — were awarded contracts in 2024 to further develop their designs. Both models are intended to be operational from the mid-2030s onward and to fly alongside the F-35 as well as the still-in-development NGAD fighter jet.

Other countries are also working on comparable concepts. Australia is developing its Loyal Wingman program under the name MQ-28 Ghost Bat, while the United Kingdom is conducting research as part of the Mosquito program. In Germany and France, similar considerations are being made in the context of the FCAS fighter jet project. This shows that the CCA concept is not a uniquely American phenomenon, but a broadly based response to the rising costs and risks of modern air combat.

In technology news, the term mainly comes up in connection with AI in the military, autonomous weapons systems, or major defense contracts. CCAs are thus one of the clearest examples of how artificial intelligence does not just appear in smartphones or search engines — but intervenes directly in security policy decisions.