US Air Force Plans to Award Contracts to 3 Vendors for Loyal Wingman Aircraft Program

Washington:  United States Air Force is edging closer to selecting companies that will build first batch of collaborative combat aircraft (CCA), or Loyal Wingman, according to initial reports. se drones, equipped with autonomous software, will operate alongside manned fighters in battle.

goal of USAF is to choose two or three companies from current five – Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Atomics, and Anduril – for next phase of development, with contracts expected in fiscal year 2025, as per a prior RTX press release.

Choosing Strategic Development Partners

Frank Kendall, US Air Force Secretary, shared this plan during a roundtable at Air and Space Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium. He during an dress spoke about potential involvement of key international partners in this phase of development. "This next round of CCA development could also involve participation by United States’ closest and ‘most strategic’ international partners,” he said.

Mission-Tailored Loyal Wingman Protos

According to media reports, USAF is anticipating various s of CCAs, each tailored for different missions such as strikes, surveillance, jamming, and decoy operations. Kendall, in his dress, ded about ‘urgency’ of program, with initial contracts covering concept definition and preliminary design work.

Andrew Hunter, US Air Force's Assistant Secretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics, also ded that re is alrey close collaboration with Air Combat Command to determine operational requirements of se aircraft for US. “ Air Force received a great deal of feedback from industry about how y could meet service’s loose goal of fielding about 1,000 CCAs,” Hunter said.

Companies not selected for first phase will have anor opportunity in subsequent phase, reports d. Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, for example, said it is still interested in US government program’s Phase 2 despite not making initial cut. Fendley said, ‘We’re in mix,’ underlining importance of offering a diverse array of capabilities and cost-effective solutions to meet US Air Force's various mission requirements and challenges.

Future Production and Collaboration for Loyal Wingman

While much attention has focused on physical drone aspect, Hunter also spoke about how important and vital role of contractors working on software and or critical elements is. Developing autonomous capabilities remains a key challenge, Hunter ded, and said re are ongoing efforts to enhance autonomy beyond initial phase.

"That work will continue apart from individual increments to develop CCA air vehicles, and developing that kind of ‘foundational architecture' for CCAs is one potential area on which Air Force can work with international partners,” Hunter ded.

United States Air Force aims to move CCAs into production after completing initial phases of development, according to Hunter. Furr down-selecting of contractors will occur in coming years, with possibility of multiple firms contributing to initial production batch.