Pratt & Whitney to Develop New Engines for Munitions, Collaborative Combat Aircraft

Pratt & Whitney, a business unit of RTX, announced it is developing a new family of engines designed to power both precision munitions and unmanned combat aircraft under the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program.

The engines, scalable from 500 to 1,800 pounds of thrust, are being developed by Pratt & Whitney’s GatorWorks team with a focus on faster development timelines and affordability. “The scalability of the architecture, the commonality across models, and the use of additive manufacturing will allow us to significantly reduce development and production timelines as we look at existing and future applications with customers,” said Jill Albertelli, president of Pratt & Whitney’s Military Engines business.

A second series of engine tests is scheduled for early 2026 to validate design features before broader deployment. Pratt & Whitney confirmed that the engine family will be available to both domestic and international customers.

The CCA program is a central element of the U.S. Air Force’s future air combat strategy. Designed to operate alongside crewed aircraft such as the F-35 and the future Next Generation Air Dominance system, the drones can be configured for strike missions, reconnaissance, or electronic warfare. The Air Force plans to acquire several hundred CCAs, with multiple defense contractors competing to deliver the platforms.

These aircraft are expected to rely on artificial intelligence for semi-autonomous operations under human oversight, making them less costly to field in large numbers compared to traditional crewed jets.