General Atomics says it’s ready to pump out up to 18 CCAs per month
The two companies building the robot wingmen get an Air Force designation.
Audrey Decker | March 6, 2025
Air Force Industry Drones
AURORA, Colo.—General Atomics says it’ll be ready to mass-produce its collaborative combat aircraft prototype after first flight this summer, its president said—soon after Air Force leaders debuted a new designation for such robot wingmen.
“With the factory we've got, we could easily go up to 12 to 18 a month—today. You have to ramp into that,” but the company could reach that rate “without buying a whole bunch of new buildings and capitalizing a bunch,” said General Atomics Aeronautical Systems president Dave Alexander.
The company—along with Anduril, the other competitor building "increment one” of the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program—are readying their drones ahead of first flight this summer. Afterward, the Air Force will decide whether to build one or both of the companies’ offerings.
“We've already built the prototype, and we're building the productionized-airplane now. So right at first flight, we are leaning forward, and we're going into production. We don’t have to redesign, we have to tool up, or any of that. It's ready to go,” Alexander told Defense One on the sidelines of the AFA Warfare Symposium.
https://www.defenseone.com/business/2025/03/general-atomics-says-its-ready-pump-out-18-ccas-month/403548/?oref=d1-homepage-river
