April 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force (USAF) said on

Wednesday that it narrowed down its list to choose General

Atomics and Anduril, which will be funded for detailed designs,

manufacture, and testing of production representative test

vehicles for the future fleet of autonomous Collaborative Combat

Aircraft (CCA).

The CCA program is part of an Air Force plan for a

next-generation family of systems, an effort to equip crewed

fighter jets and other planes with a teamed uncrewed platforms

that would fly alongside the human pilots.

The selection of two awardees mean that Boeing Co ( BA ),

Lockheed Martin ( LMT ), Northop Grumman, which had

hoped to be paid for the next design and testing phase would

have to foot the bill themselves if they wish to continue

development.

"While we are disappointed that we won't be moving forward

in this phase of the CCA program, we are undeterred in our

commitment to providing next-generation autonomous combat

aircraft for U.S. and global military customers," Boeing ( BA ) said in

response to the decision.

The Air Force is on track to make a competitive production

decision for the first increment of CCA in fiscal year 2026, and

field a fully operational capability before the end of the

decade.

Wednesday's Air Force's option exercise decision does not

exclude any of nearly 30 potential companies in a pool from

competing for the future Increment 1 production contract.

The Air Force said it is also exploring international

partnerships, to include potential Foreign Military Sales, as

part of the CCA program. Planning for CCA Increment 2

development is also ongoing, it said.