US Air Force Prepares for Next-Gen Fighter and Drone Wingmen with Growing Vendor Interest.

The US Air Force expects up to 30 vendors to compete for the opportunity to build its forthcoming collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) drone wingman, according to Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter. The service is pursuing risk reduction for the drones by expanding the number of autonomous test beds through a program called the Viper Experimentation and Next-gen Operations Model (VENOM). The Air Force's approach to acquiring CCAs relies on continuously driving competition so that no single bid is make-or-break for any business, particularly smaller vendors who may not always have the financial resources of a larger prime.