The Air Force is crossing from prototype programs to planned fleet purchases
The U.S. Air Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request marks a turning point for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCA. For the first time, the service is seeking procurement funding, not just research dollars, for the semi-autonomous aircraft it wants to fly alongside crewed fighters.
The request includes $996.5 million to begin buying Increment 1 aircraft, plus another $150 million in advance procurement for fiscal 2028. Together with about $1.37 billion in research and development, the total program ask reaches roughly $2.37 billion. That makes CCA more than a concept demonstration. It becomes a real acquisition program with industrial, basing, training, and force-structure consequences.
Why the budget line matters
Defense programs often spend years in experimentation without ever becoming embedded in the procurement accounts that drive long-term fleet decisions. The new CCA line is different. It is the clearest signal yet that the Air Force expects these aircraft to become a permanent part of future combat aviation.
That matters because CCA is intended to solve a specific operational problem: crewed fighters alone are expensive, finite, and too few to generate the scale needed for a high-end conflict against a peer adversary. The Air Force’s answer is to pair human pilots with jet-powered, semi-autonomous aircraft that can absorb risk, carry sensors or weapons, and extend the reach of manned formations.
In this model, the pilot in an F-35, F-22, or future F-47 remains the mission commander, while the uncrewed aircraft handle navigation, maneuver, sensor fusion, and weapons employment with onboard autonomy.
