Anduril Wins Production Contract for FQ-44 Fury: USAF Picks Autonomous Wingman for Collaborative Combat Aircraft Program

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Anduril a production contract for the FQ-44 Fury as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) Increment 1 winner, the company announced on June 17, 2026. The selection marks the fastest progression from prototype award to fighter aircraft production in over half a century — a timeline Anduril achieved in roughly 26 months from prototype award in April 2024 to production contract in June 2026.

The FQ-44 is a semi-autonomous uncrewed fighter designed to operate alongside crewed aircraft as a networked combat teammate. Its stated capabilities include a ferry range sufficient for global deployment, the ability to operate from short and austere fields, a combat radius exceeding that of current crewed fighters, and compatibility with air-to-air munitions — tested with inert weapons during the development phase. In flight, the aircraft can run multiple autonomy software suites and switch between them as the mission demands.

Development timeline

Anduril received the prototype award in April 2024. Ground testing began April 2025, first flight occurred October 2025, and the production contract followed in June 2026. The compressed timeline reflects the Air Force’s stated priority of fielding increased combat mass without a proportional rise in pilot numbers — particularly relevant for high-end peer-conflict scenarios in contested air environments.

The CCA program’s core concept is human-machine teaming: one or more crewed fighters direct a flight of autonomous wingmen, extending sensor reach, carrying additional munitions loads and absorbing risk in the most contested areas of the battlespace. The FQ-44 competes for that role against Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat, which was selected alongside Anduril for the CCA Increment 1 competition before Anduril’s production award.

Strategic context

The FQ-44 contract comes as the Pentagon accelerates efforts to field affordable mass in the air domain. Traditional crewed fighters take a decade or more from first metal to operational deployment and cost upward of $80–100 million per airframe at scale. An autonomous wingman priced significantly below that threshold could allow the Air Force to field larger formations without a corresponding budget increase — a force-generation model analysts have called “affordable attritable” airpower.

The broader CCA program plans multiple increments. Increment 1, covering the FQ-44, focuses on near-term fielding of a capable but relatively mature autonomy suite. Later increments are expected to push toward higher levels of machine decision-making in more complex, denied environments.

Sources

• Anduril Industries — official CCA production contract announcement, June 17, 2026.
• Army Recognition — “U.S. Air Force Chooses Anduril FQ-44 to Scale Future Combat Aviation Beyond Crewed Fighters”, June 2026.