Airbus Collaborating with Kratos on First UCCA Flight with European Mission System
Airbus has announced plans to develop an operational Uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (UCCA) system for the German Air Force to use by 2029.
To achieve this, Airbus is upgrading two Valkyrie aircraft—acquired from Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc— in Manching, Germany, so they can fly later in 2026.
Airbus is integrating its European mission system—the Multiplatform Autonomous Reconfigurable and Secure (MARS) system—onto the UCCAs, as it can coordinate mission groups by being distributed across uncrewed and manned platforms using AI-supported software known as MindShare.
Once ready, the Valkyrie aircraft will be able to complete missions that are too dangerous to involve a human pilot, either fully autonomously or taking commands from a Eurofighter.
Airbus and Rafael are also upgrading the Litening 5 Advanced Targeting Pod with connectivity capability so the Eurofighter can perform as a command aircraft across platforms.
This upgrade enhances the aircraft’s avionics and lethality in combat.
Airbus’ UCCA plans with Kratos are initially focusing on delivering credible combat air power on time and on target.
Head of Key Account Germany at Airbus Defence and Space Marco Gumbrecht said, “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.”
Gumbrecht continued, “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.”
President of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division Steve Fendley said, “We couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity, the capability we’re providing, and the teaming relationship with Airbus.”
Fendley added, “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,” noted Fendley.