US Air Force to field 500 uncrewed fighters before fixing mix of types

The US Air Force has issued production contracts for two uncrewed fighter designs under the first increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft programme, but it is holding off on setting quantities until it has seen how the aircraft perform, the service's leadership says.

The two types are the General Atomics FQ-42 and the Anduril Industries FQ-44. Air force secretary Troy Meink said the balance between them has yet to be settled. He said the decision will turn on how the aircraft already ordered behave in service and on what extra capabilities operators ask for.

Meink confirmed the air force will put at least 500 of the first-increment aircraft into the field by 2032. That total does not mean the two designs will be bought in equal numbers.

Instead, the service plans to take the jets in a series of smaller purchases so the design can be refined as production continues. Meink described batches of about 20 aircraft at a time, with changes expected from one batch to the next. He said room for that kind of evolution was built into the aircraft's architecture from the start.

Work is also under way on a second increment of the programme, which industry sources expect to cover more than one class of aircraft. Performance requirements and technical specifications for that phase have not been drawn up, and Meink said the service is still working through them. The second increment is expected to be run as a separate competition open to a different group of suppliers.