For anyone dreaming of a fighter cockpit, the question is no longer abstract. In June the US Air Force awarded General Atomics and Anduril contracts to build at least 150 uncrewed combat aircraft by the end of the decade2. Yet the first aircraft reaching production are designed to fly with crewed fighters and take direction from their pilots. Aerospace Global News expects the most immediate change to be cooperation between crewed and uncrewed aircraft, rather than the complete disappearance of pilots1.

From first flight to production in under a year

The Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) programme currently centres on two designs, the General Atomics YFQ-42A and the Anduril YFQ-44A1. The YFQ-42A first flew on 27 August 20254. Under the production contracts, the two types drop the Y prefix that marks a prototype and become the FQ-42A and FQ-44A2. The US Air Force eventually wants around 1,000 of these aircraft, of various types and levels of complexity, to augment fighters such as the F-35A, F-47 and F-22A2.

The appeal is partly cost. Col. Timothy Helfrich, the service's portfolio acquisition executive for fighters and advanced aircraft, said the goal of one third of the cost of an F-35, or roughly under $30 million per aircraft, is being met or beaten, although the contract values remain classified2. The Netherlands has already agreed to fund two of the first aircraft, which will go to the Experimental Operations Unit at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, where Dutch airmen will learn alongside the US Air Force how best to operate them6.

What the pilot actually did in the F-22 test

In a demonstration announced on 16 October, an F-22 pilot acted as what the US Air Force called an "airborne 'quarterback,'" issuing "high-level tactical directives" to a single YFQ-44A. The aircraft's onboard autonomy software then interpreted and executed those directives in real time, carrying out dynamic manoeuvres and simulated combat tasks3. According to Anduril, the pilot sent an updated plan to the drone over a tactical data link while both aircraft were airborne after departing Edwards Air Force Base in California3.

Aerospace Global News describes a future fighter pilot coordinating several aircraft and assigning tasks while software manages routine flight, moving the role from controlling one jet to overseeing a wider team1. The War Zone notes that questions about increased workload, especially for pilots in single-seat fighters, have been raised about tablet-based control in the past, although the setup of the F-22 used in this test has not been detailed3.

A crash, jamming and the rules on weapons

A YFQ-42A crashed in the California desert in early April 2026, and General Atomics said a safety review with the US Air Force traced the accident to an "autopilot miscalculation for the weight and center of gravity of the aircraft." Flight testing resumed after a six-week pause with a software fix5. Helfrich said the crash played no part in the decision to award contracts to both manufacturers2.

Autonomous systems have to cope with electronic jamming, lost communications and misleading sensor data, and an aircraft that loses contact with its operator needs a safe and predictable response1. On weapons, software may identify a potential target, but deciding whether an attack is lawful requires careful judgement, so governments need clear rules on when a machine can act alone and when human approval is required1.

Sixth-generation plans keep a crew on board

The Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) of the UK, Italy and Japan starts from a different point. It centres on a crewed fighter planned to enter service from 2035, with stealth features, advanced sensors, high-speed data sharing and AI-assisted decision-making. Uncrewed aircraft connected to the fighter could extend its reach, gather intelligence or carry extra equipment1. On 3 July an 18-month, £4.6 billion contract went to Edgewing, the trinational prime contractor, covering the next stage of concept and design work7. The aircraft is intended to replace the Eurofighter Typhoon and Mitsubishi F-28.

Where this leaves the route into a military cockpit

Neither programme removes the person giving the instructions. CCA pairs uncrewed aircraft with crewed fighters, and GCAP puts a crew at the centre of a wider system21. For aspiring military pilots, the scenario described by Aerospace Global News points to a job with more coordination and more oversight of software1. Both programmes are military, and airliners fall outside their scope, so airline training routes and cadet entry requirements are a separate question. You can compare current openings on our pilot jobs page or try a practice aptitude test if you are preparing for a selection process of your own.