US Air Force Selects Anduril and General Atomics for First Production Collaborative Combat Aircraft
A General Atomics YFQ-42A Dark Merlin prototype. [Public Domain]
June 18, 2026
The U.S. Air Force announced on June 18 that Anduril Industries and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems have been selected to build the service’s first production Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), advancing the Increment 1 program from prototyping into production.
General Atomics will produce the FQ-42 Dark Merlin, derived from its YFQ-42A prototype, while Anduril will produce the FQ-44 Fury, based on its YFQ-44A prototype. Air Force officials stated that the aircraft selected for production are refinements of the designs that entered the prototyping phase in 2024.
The Air Force also announced production contracts for mission autonomy software under a six-year contract framework. Companies selected for the software pool are Anduril, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX Collins Aerospace, and Shield AI. Separate software competitions will continue through 2027 to determine the autonomy systems that will support operational CCA aircraft.
The CCA Increment 1 aircraft previously received the designations YFQ-42A (General Atomics) and YFQ-44A (Anduril), representing the Air Force’s first unmanned aircraft to receive fighter designations. The Air Force has stated that both systems will continue testing and evaluation as production aircraft are delivered to support validation and eventual operational fielding.
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