Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink announced on Sept. 14, 2026, that the service intends to field at least 500 Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) and 500 Massed Modular Aircraft (MMA) drones by 2032, with 100 MMAs to be deployed by 2029. The announcement came during Meink’s keynote address at the Air & Space Forces Association conference.
The CCA platforms are unmanned fighter jets designed to fly alongside manned fifth- and sixth-generation aircraft, providing additional reach, strike, and intelligence-gathering capabilities. The Air Force plans to field the drones in increments, with each iteration featuring the latest upgrades. The service previously aimed to procure over 150 combat-capable CCAs by the end of the decade, a goal now revised to 500 by 2032.
Meink also confirmed the official names of the two CCA designs: the FQ-42 Vengeance and FQ-44 Fury. The production contracts for these aircraft were awarded in June 2026, with the goal of procuring over 150 combat-capable CCAs by the end of the decade. The service intends to field approximately 1,000 combat-capable CCAs across multiple increments.
Regarding the MMA, Meink said the service is on track to deploy 100 platforms by 2029 and 500 by 2032, at a cost lower than CCAs and a fraction of the cost of manned aircraft. Air Force FY27 budget documents indicate plans to buy nearly 28,000 weapons over the next five years.
Meink noted that the service is using open systems architecture to accelerate procurement, which has increased competition from industry, resulting in better choices, better prices, and more combat power. He also said the service could build more than 500 CCAs by 2032, but may not be able to afford to buy them all.
The Experimental Operations Unit (EOU) is tasked with testing CCA platforms and integrating them into the fleet. The EOU recently led operational testing of YFQ-42 and YFQ-44 prototypes at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.
Context
Meink said the CCA and MMA fleets are part of the Air Force’s modernization efforts for operations in the Indo-Pacific. He stated that special operators will have the ability to employ thousands of autonomous systems, and that autonomous fighters will perform many of the same missions as manned fighters today.
Sources: DefenseScoop · The War Zone · Air & Space Forces Magazine · The Aviationist · DVIDS News