Airbus is advancing in the presentation and adaptation of the Valkyrie, a collaborative combat drone with which it seeks to equip the German Air Force, in a context of strengthening Berlin’s air capabilities. The European company is working to offer an operational unmanned collaborative combat aircraft system (UCCA) by 2029, combining an already flight-proven platform with a mission system developed in Europe.
At its facilities in Manching, near Munich, Airbus is currently preparing the first two Valkyrie units acquired from its U.S. partner Kratos Defense & Security Solutions to carry out their inaugural flight with a sovereign European mission system. According to the company, those flights are scheduled for this year, while both companies advance in the integration of industrial capabilities to adapt, configure and subsequently produce and deliver the UCCA system offered to Germany.
The core of this proposal is the incorporation of the sovereign European mission system Multi-Platform Autonomous, Reconfigurable and Secure (MARS), developed by Airbus to operate on manned and unmanned platforms. This system also includes software supported by artificial intelligence called MindShare, conceived to replace functions of the absent pilot and to coordinate entire mission groups through its distribution among multiple manned and unmanned aircraft.
Marco Gumbrecht, Key Account Manager for Germany at Airbus Defence and Space, explained that the proposal aims to respond to urgent defense needs in Europe without starting a completely new development. “By combining the Kratos Valkyrie with our MARS mission system, we are offering the German customer exactly what Germany and Europe urgently need in the current geopolitical situation: an unmanned combat aircraft, already proven in flight, with a sovereign European mission system that does not have to be developed from scratch in a costly and time-consuming way,” he stated.
The executive also maintained that the objective is to provide a credible combat capability within a timeframe considered relevant for current strategic demands, while maintaining key sovereign components. In the same vein, he emphasized that the company considers it possible to achieve that result at a relatively affordable cost, an aspect that appears as one of the central factors in the development and future incorporation of collaborative unmanned combat aircraft.
From Kratos, the president of the unmanned systems division, Steve Fendley, highlighted the scope of the joint work with Airbus and the operational value of the platform. “We could not be more excited about the opportunity, the capability we are providing and the cooperative relationship with Airbus. By taking the Valkyrie, proven in flight and already in production, and integrating Airbus’s MARS mission system, the Airbus-adapted Valkyrie UCCA becomes an affordable and multi-mission system that can operate independently, in teams of unmanned aerial systems or in combined operations between manned and unmanned aircraft,” he noted.
Fendley added that the combination of Airbus’s and Kratos’s technical and industrial backing aims to materialize a system that can be acquired and deployed in mass at a relatively low cost. This logic responds to an increasingly visible trend in exercises and simulations between peer forces, where the availability of a large number of platforms capable of operating in coordination gains weight within contemporary air combat schemes.
Technical capabilities and operational profile of the Valkyrie
According to the data released about the program, the Kratos Valkyrie has a length of 9.1 meters, a wingspan of 8.2 meters and a range greater than 5,000 kilometers, with a maximum takeoff weight close to three tons and an operational ceiling of up to 45,000 feet. The first flight of this platform took place in the United States in 2019, and since then other units have continued operating regularly, while the first flight of the Airbus-adapted variant is scheduled for 2026.
At the same time, among the general characteristics of the aircraft it is also mentioned that it is an unmanned system 8.8 meters long and 6.7 meters in wingspan, with a maximum operating speed of 2,471.5 kilometers per hour, a range of 3,941 kilometers and a flight ceiling of 13,715 meters. In terms of armament, it has eight hardpoints to carry combinations of JDAM and GBU-39 bombs, in addition to two internal bays with capacity to transport up to 4,400 pounds, equivalent to 2,000 kilograms, of explosives.
According to Airbus, the Valkyrie will be able to operate completely autonomously or be commanded by a Eurofighter fighter jet, which would expand its utility in missions of high sensitivity and risk. The company indicated that the platform will be able to assume kinetic and non-kinetic tasks in different roles, especially in scenarios in which direct exposure of a human pilot implies an excessively high level of danger.
In that scheme, Airbus and Rafael are also working on improving the advanced Litening 5 targeting pod, already contracted for the Eurofighter fleet, through the incorporation of connectivity capability between platforms. Together with minor updates in the European fighter’s avionics, this improvement seeks to turn the Eurofighter into a command aircraft capable of coordinating other assets, increasing its integration with unmanned systems and enhancing its combat capability.
How the German Air Force is being strengthened
The potential incorporation of the Valkyrie is part of a broader process of strengthening the German Air Force during 2025, marked by advances in armament, fleet renewal and industrial consolidation. Among these precedents is the authorization by the United States government for the possible sale of AIM-120D-3 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles intended for the future F-35A stealth fighters of the German Air Force, in an operation valued at 1.23 billion dollars and framed within the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
This process is complemented by the consolidation of the industrial support structure for the F-35A program, after Germany confirmed in December 2022 the purchase of 35 fifth-generation aircraft to replace its Panavia Tornado. In this line, the announcement by Lockheed Martin regarding the start of test flights of the first F-35A built for the Luftwaffe in 2026 was also added, following the visit of German State Secretary Nils Hilmer to the Fort Worth plant, while Rheinmetall inaugurated a new facility in Weeze to produce fuselages destined for German fighters, allies and future operators.
*Cover image obtained from Airbus Defence.
*Translated by Constanza Matteo
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