Section 03 · Public needs
What the services already said they need
These are not leaked requirements. They are statements from public conferences, budget justifications, and contract announcements as of mid-September 2026. MERIDIAN maps each one to a platform family.
- 01USAFAs of 2026-09-14
Collaborative combat aircraft at scale
Field at least 500 Collaborative Combat Aircraft by 2032 to fly with F-22, F-35, and F-47. Increment 1 (FQ-42A Vengeance, FQ-44A Fury) is air-to-air, rolling off the line now, with a 700 nm combat-radius floor and a unit-cost goal of one-third of an F-35 (~$20–30M). First large-force exercise is slated for December 2026. F-22s will be the first crewed controllers.
Gap. Public plan is 150 by 2029 and 500 by 2032. Production already outruns buying power. Inc 1 cannot strike. Inc 2 attributes are still being debated (A2G vs cheaper vs more sensors vs attritable).
SECAF Troy Meink, AFA Air, Space & Cyber Conference, 14 Sep 2026; USAF CCA production awards 17 Jun 2026
- 02USAFAs of 2026-09-14
Increment 2 is still a question
CSAF Wilsbach: Inc 2 might be air-to-ground, more sensors, cheaper, more attritable, shorter or longer range, or air-dropped. Concept refinement ~10 months; up to six vendors into early prototyping.
Gap. Waiting on Inc 2 to add A2G and attritability delays a dual-role fleet by years.
CSAF Kenneth Wilsbach, reporters roundtable, 14 Sep 2026
- 03USAFAs of 2026-09-14
Massed Modular Aircraft to succeed the Reaper
500 MMA by 2032 (100 by 2029) at ~$10M per air vehicle to take on MQ-9A ISR/strike missions. GA-ASI Wildfire and Swarm Aero Gamera have been briefed as competitors.
Gap. No fielded MMA tails in FY26. Reaper remains exquisite, runway-bound, and crew-heavy.
SECAF Meink, 14 Sep 2026; USAF officials 3 Sep 2026
- 04SOCOMAs of 2026-09-14
Thousands of autonomous one-way attack systems
By 2032 special operators are to employ thousands of autonomous one-way attack systems.
Gap. Replicator was supposed to field thousands by August 2025 and delivered hundreds. SOF still lacks a single family at ammunition scale.
SECAF Meink, 14 Sep 2026
- 05JOINTAs of 2026-01-21
One-way attack as a magazine, not a prototype
Ukraine showed cheap loitering munitions kill armor and artillery. DoD selected Switchblade 600, Altius-600, and others under Replicator. Altius-600M: ~4 hr, ~450 km.
Gap. Vendor zoo, three controllers, boutique rates. Need one family, three ranges, one schoolhouse.
DoD Replicator CRS IF12611, Jan 2026; industry public specs
- 06USAAs of 2026-05-04
LASSO tank-killing loitering munition
Switchblade 400 prototype award May 2026: moving tanks to 65 km, 35 min endurance, single-soldier five-minute emplace, ATAK/Nett Warrior. ~$110M FY27, ~$1.2B FY26–31. Prior ~$1B for SB-300/600 plus $186M Block 2 in Feb 2026.
Gap. A single-vendor prototype is not a magazine. Army still needs a family that shares a seeker with squad darts and theater rounds.
DefenseScoop, 4 May 2026; AeroVironment public description
- 07USAAs of 2025-11-17
Small UAS to the company
Army FY26 SUAS request ~$726M procurement + $56M RDT&E, with Transformation in Contact pushing SUAS to lower echelons. Replicator selects included Ghost-X and PDW C-100.
Gap. Echelons still field a patchwork. GPS-denied nav is a patch, not the default.
Inside Unmanned Systems FY26 buy report; Army Transformation in Contact
- 08USAAs of 2026-09-01
Transformation in Contact
Rapidly supply small UAS to combat units from the ground up rather than waiting on a perfect program of record.
Gap. Speed of issue is still slower than the threat’s speed of iteration.
Army Transformation in Contact, 2024–2026 public reporting
- 09JOINTAs of 2026-01-21
Counter-small UAS magazine depth
FY26: ~$111M for 6,000 Coyote Block 2 and 700 Block 3, plus launchers and KuRFS radars. Coyote scored 170+ intercepts in its first combat year. Replicator 2 (C-sUAS) folded into JIATF 401; first Replicator 2 buy 11 Jan 2026.
Gap. Cost-exchange still favors the attacker. Magazines empty after the first swarm. Recoverable non-kinetic shots are scarce.
Army FY26 request; CRS IF12611; Hegseth memo 27 Aug 2025
- 10JOINTAs of 2026-01-21
Replicator’s unfinished business
Replicator (Aug 2023) aimed at thousands of uncrewed systems by Aug 2025. Public selects: Switchblade 600, Altius-600, Ghost-X, C-100, USVs, C-UAS, Dive-LD, DroneHunter F700. Fielded hundreds. Initiative dissolved/absorbed late 2025 into JIATF 401 / Defence Autonomous Warfare Group reporting.
Gap. The requirement did not go away when the brand did. Mass, attritable, all-domain, this year.
CRS IF12611 updated 21 Jan 2026
- 11USNAs of 2026-09-15
Carrier unmanned tanker, and a land analog
MQ-25A Stingray Lot 1 LRIP $562M awarded 14 Sep 2026 — three tails, deliveries 2029. 14,000 lb of fuel at 500 nm. Program of record: 67 operational + 9 test. USS Theodore Roosevelt first compatible carrier.
Gap. Fighters still tank in 2026–28. No land-based unmanned tanker for USAF Indo-Pacific range math. GNSS-denied join-up unproven at scale.
US Navy / Boeing, 14–15 Sep 2026
- 12USAFAs of 2026-09-15
European IAMD and counter-IADS vignettes
USAFE: CCAs for integrated air and missile defense against one-way attack drones and cruise missiles (no human required in the cockpit), and for reducing adversary IADS in a NATO-territory incursion.
Gap. Inc 1 CCA is A2A-focused and precious. Europe also needs cheap interceptors and decoys, not only $20M wingmen.
Lt. Gen. Jason Hinds, USAFE / AIRCOM, 15 Sep 2026
- 13JOINTAs of 2026-09-14
Suppression of enemy air defenses without spending a manned jet
CCA Inc 2 discussion includes air-to-ground and attritable variants. MALD inventories are limited. Loyal wingmen should be spendable on a door-kick.
Gap. No fielded optionally-attritable SEAD team of wingman + decoy + one-way attack.
USAF Inc 2 public discussion, 14 Sep 2026; CCA ‘optionally attritable’ framing Jul 2026
- 14USAFAs of 2026-09-14
Production capacity exceeds buying power
SECAF Meink: industry can now build more CCAs than the department can afford to buy. FY27 request $996.5M to start Inc 1 procurement.
Gap. A force design that only buys exquisite $20–30M tails will never fill the ramp. Need a cost ladder.
SECAF Meink, 14 Sep 2026
- 15JOINTAs of 2026-09-01
Navigate and strike without GNSS
Ukraine and Red Sea operations showed GNSS jamming as the default, not the exception. Public multi-role drones (Coyote LE-SR, Altius) advertise EA against GNSS.
Gap. Most U.S. tactical UAS still treat GPS-denied as a mode. It needs to be the architecture.
Open reporting on Ukraine / Red Sea EW; Coyote LE-SR public role set
- 16JOINTAs of 2025-11-17
Expendable electronic attack and decoys
Coyote LE-SR: decoy, comms relay, or electronic attack against comms, radar, GNSS. MALD remains limited.
Gap. EA/decoy is still a boutique store. Need a magazine you fill like chaff.
Inside Unmanned Systems FY26; RTX public Coyote LE-SR description
- 17JOINTAs of 2026-09-16
Resilient cross-domain mesh
CCA autonomy is ‘software sold separately’ on a government-owned A-GRA. Collins and Shield AI on Increment 1 autonomy. Mesh must survive GNSS and SATCOM loss.
Gap. Air, land, and maritime meshes are still stovepipes. A tanker that cannot gateway, a USV that cannot cue a dart, is a wasted node.
USAF CCA acquisition approach, Jun–Sep 2026
- 18USNAs of 2026-01-21
Uncrewed surface and undersea mass
Replicator publicly included USVs and Anduril Dive-LD UUV. Navy also pushing family-of-systems USVs; details remain thin in open sources.
Gap. Maritime mass is a prototype pile. Need a USV that is a magazine and a UUV that is a scout, on a commercial launch standard.
CRS IF12611; open Navy unmanned campaign reporting
- 19USAFAs of 2026-09-14
Replace Reaper mass without Reaper cost
MMA to absorb MQ-9A missions at ~$10M air vehicle. Reaper remains the workhorse in 2026.
Gap. Need runway-optional, four-tails-per-crew, palletized payloads — not a smaller Reaper.
SECAF Meink, 14 Sep 2026