The first autonomous fighter jets fielded by the US Air Force are likely to be reusable aircraft capable of flying repeat combat sorties.
That is a notable shift from the service’s original concept for the so-called Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs), which at one point were envisioned as disposable weapons systems more akin to a missile than a conventional fighter aircraft.
A less radical vision for the CCA jets saw them as low-cost “attritable” aircraft designed to undertake hazardous missions and sustain heavy losses on missions too dangerous for numerically scarce piloted fighters.
That concept now appears to be shifting again. Industry officials describe a new framework of more capable vehicles than includes some survivability attributes but are still simple enough to be “attrition tolerant”.
Speaking at the Air & Space Force Association’s Warfare Symposium in Denver, Colorado on 5 March, CCA developers Anduril and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) outlined the approach their engineers are taking to designing the new family of aircraft.
“Design for simplicity, design for low maintenance, design for low sustainment [needs] has to be on the drawing board at the very beginning,” says Andrew Van Timmeren, senior director of air dominance systems at Anduril and a former Lockheed Martin F-22 fighter pilot.
“That is as critical a point of the design of the vehicle as is normal performance,” he adds.
That focus on simplicity of maintenance and assembly includes convenient access panels, eschewing bespoke hand tools and a incorporating as many commercially available aviation components into the design of Anduril’s prototype CCA, which was recently designated the YFQ-44A by the air force.
Notably, that includes using a Williams FJ44 business jet engine for propulsion.
During his remarks in Denver, Van Timmeren confirmed the YFQ-44A will be powered by a commercial engine that is already certificated by the FAA and in production, with “millions of flight hours” logged.
Anduril is similarly looking to commercial suppliers for other major components, including brakes, tyres and hydraulic actuators. The concept is to not only lower production costs, but allow field operators a wider source of replacement parts by leveraging existing commercial aviation supply chains.
The company tells FlightGlobal the current YFQ-44A design is meant to be reusable, while remaining affordable enough that frontline commanders can use it as a one-way platform if needed.
Rival GA-ASI is taking a similar, yet distinct approach with its jet, recently dubbed the YFQ-42A by the USAF.
While Anduril is focusing on ease of maintenance, GA-ASI wants to eliminate the need for maintenance entirely.
The company uses the metaphor of a refillable Zippo pocket lighter versus a disposable Bic lighter. The metallic Zippo is more durable and offers better performance, but comes at a higher price and requires occasional replacement of combustible fuel and sparking flint.
By contrast, a plastic Bic lighter can operate for years without any upkeep and is cheap enough to be a negligible concern if lost or damaged. It is this paradigm that GA-ASI is pursuing for the YFQ-42A.
“The best aircraft is the one you don’t do maintenance on,” says Michael Atwood, vice president of advanced programmes at GA-ASI. “The hope is to not open those panels.”
The company is leveraging the success of its combat proven MQ-9A Reaper uncrewed aircraft, which has logged over 8 million flight hours, to design the YFQ-42A.
Like its remotely piloted predecessor, the new CCA type will use electromechanical actuators rather than a hydraulic systems. The YFQ-42A will also have an unspecified degree of commonality with the MQ-9As already in service, using some of the same components.
Atwood says that approach will simplify air force logistics chains and give maintenance crews options in a pinch.
“I can cannibalise an MQ-9,” he suggests as a hypothetical. “I can land an MQ-9, take an aileron circle out and put it on there. I can take landing gear shock and put it on there.”
“I’m not depending on commercial tools,” he adds.
GA-ASI has been less forthcoming than Anduril with its choice of propulsion for the CCA prototype, declining to provide specific details.
A company official speaking on background tells FlightGlobal the YFQ-42A will use a commercially available turbofan jet engine. The GA-ASI XQ-67 vehicle, which is seen as a base template for the company’s CCA design, is flying with a separate GA-ASI-built engine.
Notably, the company is aiming to produce a vehicle with so-called “engine modularity”, meaning it could operate with more than one propulsion solution. This opens up greater export potential in the future, GA-ASI tells FlightGlobal, should possible customers want a different engine option.
Similar to its competitor, GA-ASI says the YFQ-42A will be intended primarily as a reusable platform, but one that is “attrition tolerant” rather than fully attritable.
The prevailing philosophy at both manufacturers appears to be that a low-cost reusable aircraft will deliver a lower cost per mission than a fully disposable weapon, which would need to be produced and deployed in far greater numbers.
Air force leaders say the competing designs will make their first flights in the coming months, as the service moves toward fielding its first aircraft bearing the new “FQ” designation for uncrewed fighters.
“We’re flying these things this summer,” says Major General Joseph Kunkel, director of force design and integration for the USAF.
“We don’t know all the answers,” he notes of what the air force expects from a CCA in terms of performance and sustainment requirements. “As we progress here in the next year… we’re going to find out exactly what we need.”
Those findings will inform the development of requirements for a second increment of CCA vehicles, which are expected to fairly quickly succeed the first generation preparing to start flight testing later this year.
