The Air Force’s hunt for a Reaper successor tells you everything about where cleared talent needs to focus in the next three years. The MQ-9A performed well in Operation Epic Fury — the Chief of Staff called it the MVP — but the production line shut down last year, losses mounted, and the service now wants something cheaper, modular, and attritable. They’re partnering with DIU on the Massed Modular Aircraft effort, aiming for an initial operating capability in fiscal 2031 with a design that accepts combat losses by design and flies in swarms when needed.
If you’re running engineering, autonomy, or program leadership in the ISR or unmanned space, this is your planning horizon. The Air Force is borrowing heavily from the Collaborative Combat Aircraft playbook: open architecture, the Autonomy Government Reference Architecture as baseline, a concept refinement phase starting first quarter FY27, and competition across traditional primes and nontraditional firms alike. They want modularity — hang different payloads, swap mission sets fast, upgrade autonomy over time without starting over.
We’re already mapping cleared program leaders and autonomy architects who’ve worked open-systems ISR or attritable platforms at scale. The search isn’t just for one billet; it’s an entire layer of talent the primes and emerging players will need to stand up in parallel over the next eighteen months. If your background includes CCA, modular mission systems, or you’ve built something meant to be lost and still win, now’s the time to surface.