The CCA?
By 
After writing columns on the F/A-XX and the NGAD, it made sense to turn to the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, which might end up supporting both of them, or might end up replacing both of them:
Press releases about the CCA can be absurdly vague, concentrating on the paradigm-shifting nature of the aircraft and its ability to collect data and transform the battlespace to create dilemmas for an adversary and increase situational awareness and a variety of other words that seem drawn directly from a corporate handbook on how to speak the language of Bureaucracy. Nevertheless, the emerging picture of the CCA is as a vehicle designed to support manned fighters, with an architecture that will eventually allow it to pursue more ambitious missions.
In its initial operational vision, the CCA is intended to act as a “loyal wingman” to the pilot of a manned fighter of Generation 4.5, 5, or 6. Pilots of those aircraft would share information with the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, creating a more complete vision of the battlespace and of the best way to bring weapons together with targets. At the most concrete level the CCA is supposed to increase the lethality of manned fighters by giving them access to more missiles to fire. If a fighter pilot identifies a target and decides to engage, she no longer need fire her own missiles, reducing her stockpile and possibly giving away her position. With support from a CCA carrying several missiles of its own, the pilot can direct the Loyal Wingman to engage the target directly. The CCA would thus act as a literal force multiplier, restoring a quantitative US advantage in a large scale air-sea-land operation.
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