The Pentagon will look to develop new artificial intelligence-guided planes, offering two contracts that several private companies have been competing to obtain. The Collaborative Combat Aircraft project is part of a $6 billion program that will add at least 1,000 new drones to the U.S. Air Force.
The variant, called Roadrunner-M, 'can rapidly launch, identify, intercept and destroy a wide variety of aerial threats or be safely recovered and relaunched at near-zero cost.' General Atomics even a year ago actively promoted its CCA 'ecosystem' with the showcase of its Avenger Unmanned Aircraft System paired with 'digital twin' aircraft to 'autonomously conduct live, virtual and constructive multi-object collaborative combat missions.