The U.S. Air Force awarded firm-fixed-price Other Transaction Authority contracts to GE Aerospace and Rolls-Royce — GE's announced in May 2026 and Rolls-Royce confirmed in early June 2026 — to advance engine designs for the Medium Thrust Class Autonomous Collaborative Platform program, according to Breaking Defense. Contract values were not disclosed. The awards fall under Propulsion Consortium Initiative 2.0 and place both companies into a preliminary design review phase for engines intended to power AI-piloted drones that will fly alongside crewed aircraft in contested environments.
Program Background and Award Details
The Medium Thrust Class Autonomous Collaborative Platform — commonly referred to as ACP — is the Air Force program to develop propulsion systems for a new category of unmanned aircraft designed to operate as teammates with piloted jets. The program targets engines in a medium thrust class, positioning ACP aircraft as significantly more capable than small tactical drones but lighter than full-size combat aircraft.
GE Aerospace will develop its GE426 engine under the contract, completing a preliminary design review for the medium thrust class requirement. Rolls-Royce will advance designs within its existing AE engine family to meet the same requirement. Both awards are structured as OTA contracts, which allow the government to move faster through prototype phases without being bound by all standard Federal Acquisition Regulation provisions — a vehicle commonly used for early-stage defense development work where rapid iteration and flexibility are priorities over compliance overhead.
The program falls under Propulsion Consortium Initiative 2.0, an Air Force framework that pools government and industry resources to accelerate propulsion research across multiple platforms simultaneously. A key technical requirement is modular open systems architecture, meaning engines and associated systems must be designed so that components can be swapped, upgraded, or replaced without a complete redesign — a principle now standard in major defense acquisition programs to reduce lifecycle costs and prevent vendor lock-in. The MOSA mandate also creates downstream opportunities for non-prime contractors whose products conform to open interface standards accepted by both development teams. Compliance is evaluated during design review, making it a near-term consideration for potential subcontractors bidding on follow-on work.
Steve Russell, Vice President and General Manager of GE Aerospace's Edison Works, was quoted by Air and Space Forces Magazine saying the company has “proven we can rapidly move from concept to engine demonstration with the GEK800” and that its focus is now on applying that process to the GE426 — underscoring the urgency the Air Force has placed on moving ACP from design into hardware quickly. The Air Force has described the goal as developing what it called a new genus of smart, risk-tolerant, teamed aircraft — language that reflects the service's push to integrate autonomous systems into combat formations without replacing human pilots.
Collaborative Combat Aircraft Landscape
The ACP engine awards connect directly to the Air Force's growing Collaborative Combat Aircraft portfolio. The CCA program has already produced contracts for two demonstrator aircraft: the General Atomics YFQ-42A and the Anduril YFQ-44A. Both are designed to operate autonomously or semi-autonomously alongside crewed fighters, extending the reach and threat tolerance of manned formations by placing unmanned aircraft in higher-risk positions where attrition risk is elevated.
The Medium Thrust Class designation signals that ACP vehicles will occupy a tier above the lighter, shorter-range drones already common in the inventory. Medium thrust class engines would support aircraft with meaningful range, payload capacity, and maneuverability — characteristics necessary for contested-environment missions where a drone must survive and perform effectively rather than simply loiter and observe.
The preliminary design review phase now underway for both GE Aerospace and Rolls-Royce is a standard systems engineering milestone at which the government and contractor assess whether a proposed design meets all requirements before committing to detailed design and fabrication. Successful PDR completion clears the path toward prototype builds and, eventually, flight demonstration. The dual-award structure preserves competitive tension through at least the design phase, consistent with how the Air Force has structured the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A efforts to date.
What It Means for Contractors
The ACP engine awards have downstream implications for a wide range of aerospace and defense suppliers beyond the two prime awardees. Program managers and business development professionals across the propulsion and autonomous systems supply chains should consider the following categories of opportunity:
- Propulsion supply chain: GE Aerospace and Rolls-Royce both rely on extensive Tier 1 and Tier 2 supplier networks covering turbine blades, compressor stages, fuel systems, and electronic engine controls. Companies already supplying either OEM on civil or military programs should monitor solicitations tied to GE426 and AE family development work as both programs advance through design review.
- Modular open systems architecture compliance: The MOSA requirement creates demand for interface standards expertise. Systems integrators, software vendors, and hardware manufacturers that have invested in open architecture design will be better positioned to bid on ACP subsystem work as the program matures past preliminary design review into detailed design.
- OTA vehicle access: Both contracts were awarded via OTA authority under Propulsion Consortium Initiative 2.0. Companies not currently members of that consortium should assess whether joining — or partnering with existing members — is the right path to access follow-on prototype and transition work tied to ACP propulsion development.
- CCA platform integration: Propulsion is one node in the ACP system. Avionics, airframe structures, autonomy software, communications hardware, and ground support equipment will all require separate contracting actions. Business development teams already tracking the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A programs should add ACP to their pipeline coverage, since engine contracts typically precede broader platform solicitations by one to two years.
- Domestic content and ITAR: Both GE Aerospace and Rolls-Royce have multinational supply chains. U.S. suppliers should confirm their components qualify under applicable domestic content and ITAR requirements before responding to any ACP-related subcontract solicitations.
The absence of publicly disclosed contract values means vendors cannot use award size as a proxy for program priority. However, the combination of OTA vehicle, dual-award competition structure, and Air Force statements about rapid timelines indicates that sustained follow-on investment is likely as both teams advance through design phases toward prototype demonstrations.
