After a dramatic, fiery takeoff, Airbus's U740-Valkyrie uncrewed combat aircraft completed its maiden flight on October 12, 2026, in the skies over Northern Europe as part of a program to provide Europe with its own autonomous Loyal Wingman.
The Airbus U740-Valkyrie is the product of a transatlantic partnership between Airbus and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions to create a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) for the German Luftwaffe and European armed forces in general. Such Loyal Wingmen have captured the attention of military planners as a way of multiplying forces by turning fighter pilots into mission commanders overseeing squads of robotic teammates designed to take on the more hazardous and routine aspects of a mission.
However, while all the major powers are keen on CCAs, they aren't so keen on having to purchase them from other countries or regions. In recent years, hard lessons have been learned about the dangers of outsourcing defense supply lines to foreign companies, so there is a concerted push to redevelop homegrown industrial and development capabilities.
U740-Valkyrie
For the U740-Valkyrie, the partners took Kratos's Valkyrie airframe and integrated it with Airbus's Multi-platform Autonomous Reconfigurable and Secure (MARS) mission system that functions as what the company calls the "European brain" of the aircraft. The practical reason for this is to ensure that European customers have full sovereignty over software, algorithms, data, and hardware. In other words, the brain makes sure that the Valkyrie follows European protocols about when to engage with and fire upon an enemy.
In more cynical terms, it also eliminates the danger of a foreign supplier installing a backdoor kill switch to shut down the aircraft remotely.
The first flight test began with a spectacular rocket launch, which did away with the need for a runway and immediately boosted the 30-ft (9-m) Valkyrie to its cruising speed of Mach 0.8. During the test, the aircraft validated not only the takeoff system, but the ability to maneuver at various altitudes and make in-flight mission adjustments while the systems checked for airworthiness.
"In an increasingly complex and contested threat environment, air forces require affordable combat mass," said Mike Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space. "By pairing Kratos’ proven airframe as a ‘program of record’ with Airbus’ sovereign European mission system, we are able to offer a robust, sovereign, affordable, and combat-ready CCA system by the end of the decade. The Valkyrie will also play a critical role in enhancing crewed combat aircraft such as the Eurofighter with extended range, firepower, and survivability. The aircraft design enables operational resilience through its rail launch capability, while offering conventional, runway-based take-off and landing as an option."
The U740-Valkyrie is expected to enter service in 2029.
Source: Airbus