The Air Force’s next batch of Collaborative Combat Aircraft will likely be on the “low-end” for both cost and capability, a service official said Tuesday—not more advanced than the first, as earlier statements had suggested.
Work is already underway on “increment two” of the CCA program, which former-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall had previously described as more advanced and expensive than “increment one.” But now officials are suggesting that future drones will be more budget-friendly.
“I think you’ll see a range of options from low-end to potentially more exquisite. I tend to think that it’s probably going to be closer to this low-end thing when we start looking at further CCA increments,” Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel, director of Air Force force design, integration, and wargaming said Tuesday during an event hosted by the Air & Space Forces Association.
Officials recently announced that a sixth-generation fighter jet, the F-47, will be joining the fleet—which may reduce both the need and funds available for stealthy, exquisite CCAs.
The first prototypes in increment one are set to fly this summer; they’re largely thought of as missile carriers for manned fighters, at a price point of $25 to $30 million each. The service is still figuring out what it wants in increment two, but has previously discussed new mission sets like electronic attack, resilient sensing, and carrying different types of weapons.
CCAs are envisioned as companions to Air Force fighter jets like the F-35, F-22, and future F-47, but Kunkel said the service is now considering integrating CCAs with more aircraft—including the E-7 Wedgetail radar plane and B-21 Raider bomber—as well as having CCAs fight on their own.
The drones are a key part of the broader Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems, centered around the F-47. The service announced in March that Boeing will build the next-gen fighter, after a year of deliberation over what would be needed to win in a future fight.
Looking back, Kunkel said the service “probably didn’t need to do the analysis,” because leaders ended up at the same conclusion: air superiority is essential and it changes the fight.
The F-47 “allows us to get places, allows the joint force to get places where it otherwise couldn’t. It allows us to move closer to the adversary. It allows us to counter the adversary in ways we can’t. The F-47 is going to be fantastic, bringing game-changing capabilities,” he said.
The F-47 announcement also solidifies the new administration’s “confidence” in the Air Force, Kunkel said, as the Pentagon undergoes a major budget shakeup. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the services to find ways to cut 8% from their budgets so that money could be redirected to new priorities, a process Air Force officials have described as painful.
But service officials are hopeful the 8% cut will enable a broader reallocation of defense spending—potentially giving the Air Force a bigger piece of the budget.
“The F-47 I think, is a perfect example of a warwinning story, a coherent narrative, a cohesive, ‘Hey, this is how we win.’ This is how the joint force wins with Air Force capabilities, [and] we’re going to see the 8% buys back into that,” Kunkel said. “This 8% cut drill is going to be good for the Air Force because it’s the only way we’re going to be able to reallocate the top line within the department.”
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