The U.S. Navy has taken an important step forward toward acquiring new carrier-based Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) type drones with contracts to Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. In general, the service has been taking more of a wait-and-see approach to CCAs, following behind the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps, and focusing its uncrewed aviation energies first on getting the Boeing MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone into service.
Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, and Northrop Grumman on now on contract with the Navy for “conceptual” CCA designs, according to a briefing slide from Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR) Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons (PEO U&W) that TWZ has obtained. The same slide, reproduced below, says the CCA contract that Lockheed Martin received from the Navy is for work on a common control architecture. Breaking Defense was first to report on this slide, which says it was approved for full public release on August 20 of this year. The Navy has further confirmed to TWZ that its contents are accurate, but provided no additional details.
The slide does includes the following bullet points outlining, in very basic terms, what the Navy wants from its future CCAs and why the service sees them as an important addition to its force structure:
- Uncrewed, Modular, Interoperable, Interchangeable, and Versatile Platforms
- Persistent, Lethal, and Agile Force Multipliers
- Carrier Operations Capable
- Cost Efficient and Mission Effective
- Maximizes Operational Flexibility
- Addresses both current and emerging operational gaps
- Accommodates Elevated Risk Profiles
- Crewed Platform Risk Reducer
- Enables 4th and 5th Gen and complements 6th Gen [fighters]
These points are broadly in keeping with how the Air Force, in particular, has presented the value of CCAs as cost-effective force multipliers that will help reduce risk, as well as operational strain, on crewed platforms. In the past, the Navy has also talked about CCA-type drones that could be cheap enough to be “consumable,” and expended as one-way attack munitions or targets for training or test and evaluation activities.
No further details have yet emerged on the specific CCA designs that Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, and Northrop Grumman are now working on for the Navy. Anduril and General Atomics have notably already been developing potentially relevant designs for the first phase, or Increment 1, of the Air Force’s CCA program. Just last week, it was announced that General Atomics YFQ-42A is now flying. Anduril had said its YFQ-44A will take to the skies soon.
“The US Navy has selected Anduril to develop designs for carrier-ready Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA),” Anduril said today in a statement. “We are focused on delivering an aircraft built specifically to the Navy’s distinct needs, at rapid speed and formidable scale.”
In response to further queries from TWZ, Anduril declined to confirm or deny whether its offering to the Navy would be based in any way on the YFQ-44A, also known as Fury, and drew additional attention to the second sentence of its statement.
“The Navy has been pretty vocal about integrating uncrewed jets of different types and closely following the Air Force’s CCA efforts,” C. Mark Brinkley, a spokesperson for General Atomics’ Aeronautical Systems, Inc. division (GA-ASI), also told TWZ today. “It’s a smart move that buys down significant risk and leverages the substantial work and investments already underway.”
“Last summer, we rolled out notional designs for our future class of carrier-capable CCAs, building on the YFQ-42A’s proven modular baseline and adapting it for shipboard operations. General Atomics developed the EMALS [Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System] system used on Ford class carriers and has extensive experience working with the U.S. Navy and international partners on carrier-based unmanned aircraft operations, so it’s not a stretch for us,” Brinkley added, speaking more generally. “GA-ASI has recorded numerous recent aviation milestones with our aircraft at sea. In 2023, our short takeoff and landing demonstrator known as Mojave launched from and landed aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. In 2024, Mojave took off from the South Korean amphibious assault ship Dokdo and flew to a naval base ashore.”
The “modular baseline” Brinkley mentions here refers to a concept that General Atomics has been pioneering, wherein very different types of drones can be crafted around a common ‘chassis’ that includes landing gear, as well as key mission and flight control computer systems. General Atomics’ experimental XQ-67A drone, originally produced for an Air Force program called the Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS), has been a major player in proving out this idea. The YFQ-42A CCA design is derived from the XQ-67A. General Atomics has also been developing an entire family of additional uncrewed aircraft, collectively called Gambit, based around the common chassis concept. The company unveiled a carrier-based Gambit 5 design last year, as you can read more about here.
When asked for more information, Boeing deferred to the Navy. However, the company has previously shown a rendering of a carrier-based variant or derivative of its MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone. Boeing’s Australia-based subsidiary originally developed the MQ-28 for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), but the company is now actively pitching it to other potential customers. The Air Force has utilized at least one Ghost Bat in support of advanced uncrewed aircraft and autonomy development efforts.
In April, Navy Capt. Ron Flanders, public affairs officer at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development & Acquisition (RDA) also told TWZ that “the U.S. has expressed strong interest in leveraging the MQ-28’s AI-driven autonomy and modular design for future air combat operations.”
TWZ has also reached out to Northrop Grumman. It is worth remembering here that Northrop Grumman was at the very center of laying the groundwork for a high-end stealthy carrier-based uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV) capability for the Navy before the service very pointedly abandoned those plans in the mid-2010s in favor of what became the MQ-25 tanker drone. The company produced two flying X-47B demonstrators that were extensively tested, including launches from and recoveries aboard real aircraft carriers, and in-flight refueling demonstrations. As of 2022, the X-47Bs had been earmarked for public display at museums.
Lockheed Martin’s contract makes sense given how deeply and publicly involved the company has already been in the development of drone control architecture for the Navy’s aircraft carriers, something TWZ has reported on in the past.
“We are under contract to the U.S. Navy supporting common control. Specifically, our Lockheed Martin Skunk Works MDCX autonomy platform is a program of record solution for the U.S. Navy’s MD-5 Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System (UMCS),” Lockheed Martin told TWZ today in a statement. “It provides uncrewed vehicle autonomy, mission planning, and command and control (C2) capability in an operationally proven multi-level secure package for the Navy’s Carrier Air Wing of the Future.”
“Last year, the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works demonstrated the first live control of a GA [General Atomics] MQ-20 Avenger in flight by Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control Station (UMCS) and MDCX autonomy system, advancing technology necessary for future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA),” the statement added. “The test flight marked a significant milestone in the development of UMCS, setting the stage for the Navy’s future unmanned aviation operations.”
As noted, given past statements from senior Navy leadership, the revelation that the service now has five companies under contract to do CCA-related work is somewhat unexpected. At the same time, it is logical for the service to begin with exploratory deals for conceptual designs. The Air Force also initially awarded contracts under its CCA program to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Anduril, General Atomics, before picking the latter two to proceed in Increment 1. The Navy still very much lags behind the Air Force, as well as the Marine Corps, in pursuing CCAs, which is in line with its past messaging.
“The United States Navy is in a tri-service memorandum of agreement and understanding with our sister services, the U.S. Air Force, as well as the Marine Corps, and we are developing that capability together. Each of us are focused on a different aspect of that,” Navy Rear Adm. Michael “Buzz” Donnelly, then director of the Air Warfare Division (N98) within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, said at the Navy League’s annual Sea Air Space symposium in April. “The Air Force is leading and very forward leaning in the development of the actual air vehicle and the autonomy that goes in those for execution of mission. Marine Corps is working closely to develop manned-unmanned teaming between platforms such as the F-35, the F-35B being the baseline for their aviation capability right now. And the United States Navy is working based on our pathway of unmanned into the fleet with MQ-25.”
“As we work together for the United States Navy, I will tell you that we are definitely in the follow of those three services,” Donnelly added at that time.
“The future of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, and that kind of thing, is TBD [to be decided], still to come. That work’s still to be done, and there’s a lot of folks in that space,” Navy Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, commander of Naval Air Forces, and more commonly referred to as the service’s “Air Boss,” also told TWZ‘s Jamie Hunter on the sidelines of the Tailhook Association’s annual symposium last month.
Much more remains to be learned about the Navy’s current CCA vision and when it might expect to begin fielding any such capability operationally. There are still many questions that the Navy, as well as the Air Force and Marine Corps, need to answer about just how CCA-type drones will be deployed, launched, recovered, supported, and otherwise operated, not to mention employed tactically, as you can read more about here.
“I think, currently, we’re [the Navy] still figuring out exactly what the specific type of [CCA] platform is going to look like, how it’s going to integrate into the air wing, [and] how we’re going to use it for maximal advantage,” Navy Lt. Cmdr. Mark “Tugboat” Jbeily, an instructor pilot at the Strike Fighter Weapons School, Pacific (SFWSPAC), also told TWZ’s Jamie Hunter at this year’s Tailhook symposium. “But I think some common themes … are going to be consistent regardless of the specific platform, range, vendor, whatever it is.”
“You know, the wings on your chest are a sign of trust, ultimately, right? They represent that you’ve been through an established training pipeline. You’re going to behave in a predictable manner, in a standardized manner. We can trust you with this awesome power of an F-18 or F-35,” Jbeily continued. “How do we take that concept of trust and now bring it to collaborative autonomy, or manned-unmanned teaming? How do we train to get them comfortable so, in the same way that if you and I were flying, if you were my wingman, I would know you’re going to behave in a repeatable, consistent [manner]?”
“I can have insight on your behaviors. We can do a thorough debrief about why did you do this or why did you do that?” he added. “And the key, I think, is going to be, regardless of the specific platform, how do we build that element of trust, and how do we get folks comfortable to be able to use it in a combat scenario if we have to.”
With the contracts to Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the Navy has put itself on a new course in regard to its CCA plans, but it is still very much following its sister services.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com