미해군, 미공군과 CCA 상호운용성 강화 추진

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미 해군, 공군과의 '협력 전투 항공기(CCA)' 상호 운용성 강화 추진

미 해군은 공군과의 협력을 통해 '협력 전투 항공기(CCA)'의 상호 운용성을 강화하고자 합니다. 해군 항공전 국장인 마이클 '버즈' 도넬리 소장은 CCA의 공통 표준을 개발하여 플랫폼과 차량의 상호 교환성을 확보할 계획이라고 밝혔습니다. 현재 해군은 무인 공중급유기인 MQ-25 스팅레이를 운용 중이며, 이를 통해 무인 항공기의 항공모함 운용에 대한 경험을 축적하고 있습니다. 공군은 이미 YFQ-42와 YFQ-44와 같은 CCA 모델을 공개하였으며, 해군은 이러한 공군의 개발을 참고하여 함상 운용에 적합한 CCA를 도입할 예정입니다. 또한, 해군은 공군 및 해병대와 함께 CCA 개발을 위한 삼군 협정을 체결하여, 공통 아키텍처, 임무 계획, 통제 스테이션 등의 분야에서 협력하고 있습니다. Air & Space Forces 매거진+1Air & Space Forces 매거진+1

Navy Eyes ‘Interchangeable’ CCAs with Air Force

Concepts of the uncrewed fighter aircraft YFQ-42A (bottom) and the YFQ-44A are pictured in artwork. The aircraft are designed to leverage autonomous capabilities and crewed- uncrewed teaming to defeat enemy threats in contested environments.General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. and Anduril Industries

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Navy Eyes ‘Interchangeable’ CCAs with Air Force, Lessons from MQ-25

April 8, 2025 | By Matthew Cox

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—While the U.S. Air Force plans to spend big and make Collaborative Combat Aircraft drones an essential part of its tactical fleet in the near future, the U.S. Navy is working to team manned and unmanned aircraft as well.

And while the two services are planning separate acquisition programs and efforts, senior Navy officials said April 8 at the Sea-Air-Space conference that they’re coordinating with their USAF counterparts and may even want to share the drones once they’re available.

The Navy’s future CCAs will not be the same platform as the Air Force’s but will have common standards like architecture, mission planning, control stations, said Rear Adm. Michael “Buzz” Donnelly, director of air warfare for the Navy. That will “allow us not only to be interoperable but have our platforms and our vehicles interchangeable,” Donnelly said, adding that the Navy is doing a lot of work on the CCAs that is out of the public sphere.

For now, the centerpiece of the Navy’s efforts is its new unmanned tanker. Officials said they hope lessons learned from the challenges of operating that drone, the MQ-25, on aircraft carriers will ease future headaches when it shifts to combat drones to team with its fighters.

The Air Force has been working on semi-autonomous CCA drones to pair with fighters for more than a year and a half now, to the point that it has unveiled two full models and designations for them—General Atomics’ YFQ-42 and Anduril Industries YFQ-44.

CCAs will serve as drone wingmen for the Air Force’s F-35 and new F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance manned fighter.

The Navy, meanwhile is poised to announce the winner of its own sixth-generation F/A-XX fighter but is relying on the Air Force to prove out the teaming of manned fighters with CCAs before introducing them to the harsh conditions of carrier operations. 

“We want to understand the basics the Air Force is introducing, and then we can make that shipboard-capable,” Donnelly told Air & Space Force Magazine following a panel discussion on modernizing the future of naval aviation. 

“The Navy is moving out, but we are doing it very smartly so it’s informed by the developments of the other services,” he said.

Donnelly said the Navy is in a “tri-service agreement with both the Air Force and the Marine Corps in the development of CCAs. … We are working on different aspects of the CCA that are not directly related to the air vehicle.” 

A Boeing unmanned MQ-25 aircraft is given operating directions on the flight deck aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brandon Roberson

During the panel, Navy and industry officials discussed how the service will use the new MQ-25 Stingray, scheduled to make its first flight in 2025, as a pathway for introducing drone aircraft to carrier operations.

Boeing won an $804 million Navy contract in 2018 to develop the MQ-25, an unmanned tanker capable of transferring 14,000 pounds of fuel to aircraft like the F/A-18 Super Hornet and the F-35 at a distance of 500 miles from a carrier in highly contested airspace.

“When we fly this aircraft later this year, it will be the safest unmanned aircraft that we have ever produced,” Boeing’s Dan Gillian said.

Commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic Rear Adm. Doug “V8” Verissimo said the Navy needs to get the MQ-25 “into the hands of Sailors and start incorporating it into the system … adapt and overcome challenges along the way, and I guarantee those opportunities are going to be bright and shining lights that give us future capabilities, both with the MQ-25 and other manned-unmanned teaming.” 

Donnelly said the MQ-25 is going to establish a baseline standard that is going to be relevant  for all of the Navy’s future unmanned aircraft.

“As we develop future Collaborative Combat Aircraft with the Marine Corps and the Air Force, the MQ-25 is going to provide that forward pathway for our operating environment, which is different from operating on a 6,000- or a 10,000-foot runway,” Donnelly said.

Introducing the new drone tanker to carrier operations will be the first challenge, Donnelly said after the panel.

“All of the flying on and off the aircraft carrier from a basic standpoint is fuel-critical,” Donnelly said. “When we come back and land, we do it with a very fuel-constrained environment that is unpredictable in terms of sea-state and weather, so it’s a very tight sequence of a ballet to get the aircraft on the aircraft carrier in a very finite timeline and a very tight sequence of events.  And integrating unmanned systems into that is something very different.”

To Donnelly, mastering carrier operations will likely be much more complex for the MQ-25 than the combat missions it is designed to fly.

“That is going to be a lot of essential learning, and it is going to allow us to proceed very rapidly in what we are learning from the partnership with the Air Force and what they will be demonstrating very shortly,” Donnelly said.