February 12, 2026 at 10:06 PM
Air Force begins testing mission autonomy package for CCA prototypes
General Atomics and Anduril are working with Collins Aerospace and Shield AI, respectively, to integrate mission autonomy software onto their CCA prototypes and conduct semi-autonomous flights. The post Air Force begins...
The Air Force announced Thursday that it is integrating and testing the mission autonomy package for its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) prototypes — moving the program one step closer to a production decision this year. The service is currently integrating a government-owned Autonomy Government Reference Architecture (A-GRA) onto loyal wingman drones built by both General Atomics and Anduril, according to an Air Force news release. The work is being done by RTX-subsidiary Collins Aerospace and Shield AI, which are contracted by the service to provide the CCA platforms’ mission autonomy.
Along with retrofitting the A-GRA onto both CCA prototypes, Collins and Shield AI are also tasked with conducting semi-autonomous flight tests alongside the two platform vendors, according to the Air Force. The drones are part of the Air Force’s Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems. The service is developing the robotic wingmen to fly alongside sixth– and fifth-generation fighter jets, augmenting its manned fleet with additional offensive strike and intelligence-gathering capabilities.