Airbus and Kratos fly U740 Valkyrie drone in first European test

Airbus and Kratos have flown the U740 Valkyrie for the first time in Europe. The two companies intend to bring the uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft to a combat-ready standard by 2029.

According to Airbus, the aircraft lifted off from a test site in Northern Europe and met every objective set for the sortie. These included a rocket-assisted take-off that does not depend on a runway, manoeuvres at several altitudes at speeds reaching Mach 0.8, and changes to the mission while airborne.

The U740 is an XQ-58A Valkyrie with modified software. Kratos first flew that airframe at the Yuma Training Grounds in Arizona on 5 March 2019.

Testing will next cover that software, the Multi-platform Autonomous Reconfigurable and Secure mission system, or MARS. Airbus calls MARS the aircraft's European brain and says it allows Germany and other European operators to hold their own control over software, mission applications, data and hardware. MARS uses artificial intelligence to fly missions on its own and to coordinate groups of aircraft, while a control structure keeps a person involved in decisions the company deems critical.

Mike Schoellhorn, chief executive of Airbus Defence and Space, said air forces need affordable combat mass in a threat environment he described as increasingly complex and contested. Combining Kratos' airframe with Airbus' European mission system, he said, would produce a sovereign, affordable and combat-ready system by the end of the decade.