USAF moves CCA loyal-wingman drones (FQ-42A/FQ-44A) from prototype to production

The U.S. Air Force awarded its first production contracts for Collaborative Combat Aircraft (FQ-42A and FQ-44A), signaling a shift from prototypes to fieldable semi-autonomous 'loyal wingmen' intended to operate alongside crewed fighters. It also launched a competitive, multi-vendor mission-autonomy software effort using a government-owned modular reference architecture to enable portability across airframes and avoid vendor lock-in—an operationally significant approach to scaling autonomous combat aviation.