Airbus and Kratos complete first European flight of U740 Valkyrie drone
Airbus and Kratos Defense and Security Solutions (NASDAQ: KTOS) have completed the first European test flight of the U740 Valkyrie, a jet-powered uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) the two companies are jointly developing for the German military and other European armed forces. The flight, conducted at a test facility in Northern Europe, met all stated objectives and keeps the partnership on course to deliver a combat-ready system by 2029.
The sortie validated a rocket-assisted, runway-independent take-off, sustained flight at speeds up to Mach 0.8 across a range of altitudes, and in-flight mission adjustments. Those are non-trivial milestones for an uncrewed platform designed to operate either autonomously or under the command of a crewed fighter such as the Eurofighter.
The aircraft and its "European brain"
The U740 airframe, developed by Kratos, measures 30 feet in length with a 27-foot wingspan. It carries an internal weapons bay for air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions, has a maximum take-off weight of over 6,000 lbs, a service ceiling of 45,000 feet, and a stated range exceeding 3,000 miles. For European deployment, the aircraft is paired with Airbus' Multi-platform Autonomous Reconfigurable and Secure (MARS) mission system, described as the aircraft's sovereign European control layer. MARS handles software, mission applications, data management and system hardware, using AI-enhanced software to coordinate autonomous missions and entire mission groups.
Both companies emphasise that a strict human-on-the-loop control hierarchy governs all critical decisions, keeping the system within established rules of engagement and what they describe as ethical and legal standards. That framing is significant given ongoing European policy debates about autonomous weapons.
Mike Schoellhorn, chief executive of Airbus Defence and Space, framed the partnership's commercial logic: "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."
Market and regulatory context
The CCA category is emerging rapidly across NATO member states, driven by a strategic shift toward affordable attritable platforms that can extend the reach and survivability of crewed fighters without risking pilots on high-threat missions. The US Air Force's own CCA programme, which has seen competition between Boeing and Joby-backed bids alongside established primes, is acting as a reference architecture for allied programmes. Europe has historically lagged the US in this category, and the Airbus-Kratos partnership is one of the more concrete attempts to field a credible sovereign option for continental air forces.
The digital sovereignty angle is increasingly central to European defence procurement. MARS is being positioned explicitly as a mechanism for Germany and its partners to retain full control over mission software and data, addressing concerns within EU institutions and member-state defence ministries about dependence on non-European technology stacks in sensitive military applications. That framing aligns with the broader EU push for strategic autonomy in critical technology, including the provisions of the European Defence Industrial Strategy published earlier in 2026.
Subsequent test flights will integrate the full MARS mission system, with more complex autonomous manoeuvres and multi-aircraft coordination scenarios expected before the 2029 commitment date. Named customer commitments beyond Germany, and any contracted unit prices or procurement volumes, have not yet been disclosed. Investors in Kratos will likely track both milestones as indicators of whether the CCA programme translates into a durable revenue line.