USAF Discussing CCA, Increment 2 Attributes

The U.S. Air Force is refining attributes for Increment 2 of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft programme through concept work with nine unnamed vendors. Officials say the service could advance as many as six designs to prototype work, and the competition may reopen before selections. Propulsion studies include engines in roughly 1,400–1,600-pound and 5,000–6,000-pound thrust classes, signalling that size and mission scope remain unsettled. Requirements for range, payload, survivability, autonomy and cost are still being balanced, so Increment 2 should not yet be treated as a fixed aircraft configuration.