U.S. Air Force Rounds Out CCA Increment 2 Engine Awards

The U.S. Air Force has awarded four companies initial conceptual design contracts for next-generation engines to power Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) Increment 2 and other Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (ACP). In addition to previously announced awards to GE Aerospace–Kratos and Honeywell, contracts have also been issued to Beehive Industries and Pratt & Whitney. These awards focus on early-stage engine design, with options to complete preliminary design reviews. GE Aerospace and Kratos received a $12.4 million contract to further develop the GEK1500 engine, which builds on the earlier GEK800 and is aimed at missiles and reusable uncrewed aircraft. Honeywell secured a prototype contract for its SkyShot 1600 engine, designed for the CCA market with thrust ranging from 800 to 2,800 pounds and configurable as either a turbojet or turbofan. Beehive Industries recently demonstrated production capacity for its small, additively manufactured Frenzy engine and is preparing to support Increment 2 timelines, while Pratt & Whitney plans to begin testing in 2026 on a new scalable engine family ranging from 500 to 1,800 pounds of thrust. The Air Force says this design phase is critical to determining feasible, cost-effective solutions before moving into prototype development. The broader goal is to produce affordable, high-performance engines that can be rapidly manufactured at scale. Current Increment 1 CCA prototypes from Anduril and General Atomics are powered by Williams FJ44-4 engines.