The U740 Valkyrie — an adapted European variant of the XQ-58A platform developed through the Airbus and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions partnership — completed its first test flight, a result that keeps the two companies on track to hand over an operationally ready aircraft to Germany by 2029. Jet-powered combat drones of a new class are under consideration for procurement by Germany's air force, a process that provides context for the flight.
Airbus disclosed on 12 October that the flight was conducted at a test facility in northern Europe whose name has not been released. Propelled by rocket-assisted launch, the aircraft worked through a range of altitude bands before reaching a speed of Mach 0.8. During the flight, course adjustments to the mission profile were carried out, and Airbus subsequently confirmed that every stated objective had been achieved.
Airbus's MARS system — formally the Multi-platform Autonomous Reconfigurable and Secure mission architecture — is scheduled to arrive in the following phase, bringing with it software and mission-management infrastructure designed to operate under European control aboard the aircraft. According to Airbus, the MARS system is built to handle coordination and self-directed operation across fleets of uncrewed aircraft, with human judgement kept in the loop for decisions that carry the most weight.
Drawing on Kratos' XQ-58A — a drone platform developed in the United States and built around the goal of keeping procurement costs manageable — the U740 takes shape as a combat-capable uncrewed aircraft. The MARS mission system is being integrated into the aircraft by Airbus, with the company positioning that combination as a path toward a sovereign European defence capability for Germany — one that does not depend on waiting for an entirely new airframe to reach operational maturity.
According to data released for the U740, the aircraft's rated ceiling for takeoff weight sits at roughly 3,000 kilograms, or about 6,600 pounds. According to Airbus specifications, the aircraft carries a published range of just over 5,000 kilometres — roughly 3,100 miles — and an operational ceiling reaching 45,000 feet. Weapons storage sits inside a dedicated internal bay, while hardpoints mounted beneath the wings accommodate additional payload.
Among the U740's noted technical attributes, its rocket-assisted takeoff system frees the aircraft from reliance on traditional airstrip infrastructure. While the original Valkyrie variant relies on parachutes for recovery, later-generation models have gained the ability to lift off with rocket-assisted thrust and touch down on conventional runways, broadening the range of environments and methods through which they can be deployed. Spreading air operations across sites without permanent runways — or pulling back from airfields facing active pressure — represents one potential application of the capability.
According to the manufacturer, the U740 is being designed to fly missions on its own or in coordination with piloted aircraft such as the Eurofighter. From the firm's perspective, autonomous platforms absorbing the riskiest assignments would extend the range, hitting power, and protection of manned aircraft already in service.
Through the MARS system, Airbus aims to hand operators in Europe direct authority over mission applications, software functions, and onboard data, while the platform itself handles autonomous task execution and inter-aircraft coordination. The degree of control Germany retains over the aircraft in practice will depend on whether its technical teams can modify the underlying software, incorporate domestically developed components, and sustain the aircraft through decades of operational life — all of this complicated by the fact that the airframe's foundational design originated in the United States.
The Valkyrie programme's extension into Europe marks a milestone, though the aircraft still has a considerable distance to travel on the path toward operational readiness. Three technical hurdles stand between the two companies and their 2029 target: embedding mission systems into the broader architecture, advancing through additional test phases, and demonstrating that autonomous platforms can function in formation with crewed aircraft.
Alongside that programme, Germany is drawing up specifications for what press accounts have termed a Jagdbomberdrohne — a strike-capable unmanned aircraft combining bomber and fighter functions. Germany's armed forces received drone warfare capabilities at a later point than militaries elsewhere that had already put comparable systems into service.
Efforts to bring larger reconnaissance drones into service ran into both engineering obstacles and procurement complications, and opposition to arming those platforms held back any strike capability from taking shape for an extended period. Five Heron TP drones — a medium-altitude, long-endurance type built in Israel and brought in under lease arrangements — make up the entirety of the Luftwaffe's larger uncrewed aircraft inventory at present.
Alongside its involvement in the Eurodrone programme, unmanned platforms had been expected to form a strand of the broader Future Combat Air System — a Franco-German-led initiative that ran into obstacles earlier in the year. Gaps in military readiness that had persisted for years were thrown into sharper relief once Russia began its full-scale assault on Ukraine in 2022 and Germany moved to rebuild the scale of its armed forces.
Germany has outlined a target of reaching full war-readiness by 2029, and the country's air force is understood to be pursuing a new armed-drone capability on a comparably tight schedule. Among the contenders understood to be vying for the work are Anduril, a General Atomics–INTEC partnership drawing on German aerospace expertise, and Lockheed Martin. On one side of the competition, Boeing and Rheinmetall are putting forward the Block 3 iteration of the MQ-28 Ghost Bat — an Australian-developed platform in its expanded form — while on the other, Helsing and Hensoldt have directed their efforts toward the domestically conceived CA-1 Europa.
Development of a wider variant, the U760 Ravenstorm, remains underway at Airbus, with the aircraft pencilled in for entry into operation at some point in the early 2030s.
