The Air Force’s Combat Drone Saga Has Taken a Dramatic Turn

As a new era of autonomous warfare approaches, two dark horses are now vying for aerial dominance.

Following years of research and development on artificial intelligence, on Wednesday the Air Force announced it had down-selected two companies that would build and test prototype aircraft in a competition for the service’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program due in 2026.

Once a winner is selected in 2026, the service has the ambitious goal of to begin receiving the first of 1,000 lower-cost ‘loyal wingman’ combat drones by 2028 to fly alongside its manned stealth fighters.

The selection has left the U.S.’s three biggest military aerospace giants—Boeing, Lockheed-Martin and Northrup-Grumman—out in the cold. But the two finalists, Silicon Valley-based newcomer Anduril Technologies and established combat drone builder General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, are also a study in contrasts offering very different takes on what the CCA should resemble.

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