This article is published in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report part of Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN), and is complimentary through Oct 23, 2025. For information on becoming an AWIN Member to access more content like this, click here.
Mission autonomy software will control the behaviors of the YFQ-42 (left) and YFQ-44.
NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland—RTX and Shield AI will supply the software “brains” for the first increment of the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) fleet, sources say.
The RTX mission autonomy software suite will be integrated into the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) YFQ-42, and Shield AI’s Hivemind-branded system will control the Anduril YFQ-44, sources tell Aviation Week.
The Air Force declined to comment on the decisions, saying the mission autonomy selections are not yet public.
The selections by the Air Force mark the next and most complex phase in the evolution of CCAs as autonomous vehicles.
In 2024, the Air Force selected GA-ASI and Anduril to build the operational prototype vehicles in Increment 1 of the CCA program, which includes the aircraft and the semi-autonomous flight control systems. The latter controls the aircraft during taxi, takeoff and landing based on inputs from a human controller.
But what makes the CCA aircraft different are the software packages that use AI-assisted algorithms to enable a set of behaviors during a mission, such as orchestrating a defensive combat air patrol or an offensive sweep for enemy fighters.
As GA-ASI and Anduril got started on the CCA Increment 1 aircraft, the Air Force also launched a competition to develop the mission autonomy systems that will guide the behavior of the CCAs during a mission.
The wins mean RTX and Shield AI will receive government funding to continue maturing the mission autonomy software on the CCA Increment 1 operational prototypes, as the industry awaits the Air Force’s decision on production orders of the YFQ-42 or the YFQ-44 in fiscal 2026.
GA-ASI flew the YFQ-42, a derivative of the XQ-67A, for the first time on Aug. 27.
Anduril is scheduled to reach the first flight of the YFQ-44 in October, Air Force Secretary Tom Meink said Sept. 22 here at the Air, Space and Cyber conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
Anduril executives attributed the extra time required for the YFQ-44 to completing the software for the semi-autonomous flight control system.
Related Content
