The U.S. Air Force has awarded four propulsion development contracts to Beehive Industries, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney and a team of GE Aerospace and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions to mature designs for future autonomous aircraft, including Combat Collaborative Aircraft, or CCA, Increment 2 and other autonomous collaborative platforms, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.
As the Air Force moves forward with new propulsion development efforts for autonomous aircraft, defense stakeholders continue to track the service’s broader modernization priorities. Reserve your spot at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Air and Space Summit on July 30 to connect with peers across government and industry and stay informed on developments impacting the air and space community.
The companies will conduct early-stage engine design work, according to an Air Force spokesperson.
“This multi-vendor approach ensures the Air Force has a variety of options to power the diverse and evolving fleet of ACP and CCA Increments,” the spokesperson said.
What Is Increment 1 of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft Program?
Increment 1 is the first round of the Air Force’s drone wingmen Collaborative Combat Aircraft program. For the initial phase, the service selected commercially available propulsion systems.
“To meet program schedule requirements, the CCA Increment 1 program solves operational problems by incorporating available, low risk propulsion solutions,” the Air Force spokesperson said. “The Air Force is maturing propulsion designs in different power classes in support of future ACP and CCA Increments that optimize cost, range, and mass.”
What Are the Details of the USAF Contracts Awarded to GE-Kratos Team & Honeywell?
The GE Aerospace-Kratos team secured a $12.4 million Air Force contract to design a next-generation engine for small CCA. Under the program’s initial phase, the team will complete the preliminary design of the GEK1500 engine to meet performance requirements while targeting cost objectives intended to support affordable mass production.
Honeywell received an Air Force prototype contract to design a propulsion system for an autonomous aircraft based on its SkyShot 1600 engine. The SkyShot 1600 features a flexible architecture that can support turbojet or turbofan configurations for various mission profiles.
What Is Air Force CCA?
CCA is the Air Force’s initiative to develop semi-autonomous aircraft designed to operate alongside crewed platforms, complement major weapons systems and serve as force multipliers for the joint force. As part of the Next Generation Air Dominance Family of Systems, the program seeks to integrate open-systems architectures to facilitate the continuous iteration of autonomy and mission systems capabilities.
The Air Force has begun integrating and testing its Autonomy Government Reference Architecture across multiple vendor platforms as part of the CCA program.
In December, the service designated Northrop Grumman’s semi-autonomous prototype aircraft, Project Talon, as YFQ-48A under the program.
In August 2025, the Air Force announced that the YFQ-42A prototype, developed with General Atomics, completed its inaugural flight as the platform transitioned into flight testing.
