Video: General Atomics On Air Force CCA, MMA Targets

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland—General Atomics is ready to build at the rate the U.S. Air Force has outlined for autonomous aircraft, Vice President of Strategic Development Mike Shortsleeve told Aviation Week at AFA's Air, Space and Cyber conference.

The service has set a goal to field 1,000 new autonomous aircraft by 2032; a target split evenly between Massed Modular Aircraft (MMA) and Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), with the first 100 MMAs sought by 2029.

Speaking in front of the company's FQ-42A—newly named Vengeance— Shortsleeve said its CCA line is tooled and operational, and pointed to MQ-9 Reaper production experience as giving it confidence to meet overall targets. The company is offering its proposed Wildfire design for the MMA competition.

“I think some people forget the fact that when MQ-9 was at its height, we were building an aircraft every three days,” Shortsleeve said. “So it's not that hard for us to get to that capability, and we've already tooled ourselves, we've got the skilled workforce in place, so we're ready.”

Aviation Week’s Pentagon Editor Brian Everstine has the story.