U.S. Air Force actively works on deploying UAV fleet under Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. By 2032 they want to have in their arsenal at minimum 500 such semi-autonomous unmanned fighters, which should supplement manned ones.
U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink reported this during speech at Air, Space & Cyber Conference, TWZ writes. He added same quantity of Mass Modular Aircraft (MMA) drones planned, which should replace MQ-9 Reaper.
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In more detail on unmanned fighters, official names were announced. FQ-42 from General Atomics was named Vengeance, while FQ-44 from Anduril — Fury. Practically this changes something only for FQ-42, which was previously called Dark Merlin.
Currently these UAVs are ordered in first iteration Increment 1 and second Increment 2 is planned. Additional types of similar drones may be included here too, which also may be counted toward mentioned 500 units. At same time, U.S. Air Force notes they are currently in situation where capability exists to produce more drones than funds available to purchase them.
At same time with orders, U.S. still figures out how they will employ unmanned fighters. Also price question remains, which is not yet specified, but previously figures of $20 million per unit were voiced.
Defense Express notes such wingman UAVs can at least partially fill gaps in U.S. Air Force. Currently aircraft quantity falls short of established minimum of 1,145 aircraft.
At same time, at minimum 500 CCA program drones are planned for deployment by 2032, meaning in coming years capabilities will not be as large. Naturally, possibly more may be manufactured, but this requires financing, which as mentioned by American military themselves is problematic question.
Regarding unmanned fighter capabilities, in July 2026 FQ-44 launched AIM-120 air-to-air missile, meaning potentially it will be able to intercept drones and cruise missiles like Banderol and Kh-101, and in perspective counter manned platforms. This UAV already entered serial production at interesting hyperfactory.
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