Kratos, Airbus Preparing Two Valkyries for First Flight with European Mission System
AN DIEGO, March 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS), a leader in defense, national security and global markets, and its partner Airbus announced today that the joint team continues to take steps towards completing an integrated Uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (UCCA) offering for the German Air Force and towards a maiden flight with a sovereign European mission system, the Multiplatform Autonomous Reconfigurable and Secure (MARS) system.
The two companies are bringing their respective industry-leading capabilities to integrate, missionize, and ultimately produce and deliver the Airbus UCCA System and are scheduled to fly later this year.
“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: a proven flying uncrewed combat aircraft with a sovereign European mission system that does not have to be developed from scratch in a time-consuming and costly manner”, said Marco Gumbrecht, Head of Key Account Germany at Airbus Defence and Space. “Our objective is to deliver credible combat capability in time of relevance, while assuring key sovereign aspects. And we are confident that we can do this at a very affordable price – which is a key driver for UCCAs.”
Steve Fendley, President of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division, said, “We could not be more excited about the opportunity, the capability we’re providing, and the teaming relationship with Airbus. By taking the flight-proven and in-production Valkyrie and integrating the Airbus MARS mission system, the Airbus-missionized Valkyrie UCCA is a multi-mission, affordable system that can operate independently, in teams of UAS, or in Manned-Unmanned-Teaming operations. Along with the technical and production backing Airbus and Kratos bring, we are realizing an optimal capability system that can be bought and deployed as ‘affordable mass’; the consistent discriminator identified in today’s peer to peer wargames.”
The Kratos Valkyrie is a high-performance, runway-flexible tactical unmanned aerial vehicle capable of long-range flights at high-subsonic speeds. Combining affordability, survivability, long-range, high-subsonic speeds, maneuverability and ability to carry flexible mission kit configurations and mix of lethal weapons from its internal weapons bay and wing stations, the Valkyrie provides unmatched operational flexibility at an affordable price for both Department of War (DoW) and international customers.
With a length of 9.1 m, a wingspan of 8.2 m, range of over 5,000 kilometres, maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of around three tons, the Valkyrie can fly at an altitude of up to 45,000 feet. The maiden flight of the Valkyrie already took place in the USA in 2019; and additional aircraft have been flying regularly since that time. The maiden flight of the Airbus variant is scheduled for 2026.
Fully autonomous or commanded by a Eurofighter, the Valkyrie is designed to be able to take on sensitive mission tasks that would pose too great a danger to the pilot. The UCCA can service kinetic and non-kinetic mission sets in several roles. For the German customer, Airbus and Kratos are initially focusing on a specific role to deliver credible combat air power on time and on target.
