General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has been contracted by the US Navy to develop conceptual designs for a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) to support the future carrier air wing.
“We’re honored by the vote of confidence from the U.S. Navy and we’re eager to put what we’ve built to work for the future fleet,” GA-ASI President David Alexander said.
GA-ASI was selected to work on Navy CCA designs emphasising a modular approach to platform selection, capable of being rapidly reconfigured and upgraded to meet changing mission requirements, including operations on and from aircraft carriers.
“No one has more experience than we do with unmanned combat aircraft and we’re leveraging that to help the Navy get this capability onto the flight deck fast," Alexander stated.
GA-ASI’s Navy CCA contract has followed its selection to design and fly the US Air Force’s first CCA, the YFQ-42A. A production-representative unmanned fighter, YFQ-42A was the first Air Force CCA to begin flight testing in August.
GA-ASI has configured all its unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAV) to be AMS-GRA compliant, including XQ-67A, YFQ-42A and MQ-20 Avenger. GA-ASI has reconfigured and upgraded its modular XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station, an autonomous-capable unmanned jet built under contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory that achieved first flight in 2024.
At the UK’s Farnborough Air Show in 2024, GA-ASI had announced its company-developed concept for ship-based CCA operations, codenamed Gambit 5. GA-ASI’s Gambit Series had envisioned multiple CCA variants rapidly reconfigured from a common Gambit Core.
According to the company, GA-ASI has recorded numerous recent aviation milestones with its aircraft at sea. In 2023, the short takeoff and landing demonstrator known as Mojave launched from and landed aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. In 2024, Mojave took off from the South Korean amphibious assault ship Dokdo and flew to a naval base ashore.