Air Force Selects Nine Companies for Drone Wingmen Prototyping

The US Air Force has awarded nine companies contracts for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program’s ‘Concept Refinement’ phase, selecting a wide array of drone wingmen designs. The contracts are for Increment 2, which aims to field drone wingmen that can fly alongside manned aircraft in battle. The Air Force plans to down select for ‘production awards’ after concept refinement and prototyping stages. Breaking Defense was first to report on the Air Force’s plans for the CCA program.