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Airbus Unveils U760 Ravenstorm UCCA

Airbus unveiled at the ILA Berlin 2026 exhibition the new U760 Ravenstorm Uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft, designed for air-to-air, air-to-ground and electronic warfare missions.

On the sidelines of the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) in Berlin, Airbus Defense and Space unveiled a new multirole Unmanned Collaborative Combat Aircraft (UCCA), the U760 Ravenstorm. The company also revealed the designation of its variant of the U.S.-made XQ-58A Valkyrie, which is being adapted for the European market as the U740 Valkyrie in collaboration with Kratos.

The Ravenstorm and Valkyrie are planned to be delivered by 2030s and 2029 respectively, with the latter particularly being prepared to work together with the German Air Force’s (Luftwaffe) Eurofighters. Airbus has scheduled two of the Valkyrie airframes’ flights with European mission systems later this year, before being eventually paired with German Eurofighter Typhoons in manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T).

The U760 seems to have been in the conceptual stage for a while, and is entirely different in design and aesthetics from Airbus’ stealthy loyal wingman UCAV unveiled in the 2024 iteration of ILA Berlin. The company did not provide updates on the latter, and the status of the program is thus unclear.

Compared to the mockup of the 2024 stealthy loyal wingman, the U760 features a more compact design, concurrent with the prevalent aerodynamic configurations seen in CCAs elsewhere. These programs are also largely independent of the collapsing Future Combat Air System (FCAS), as they would serve the existing Gen. 4.5 and 5 aircraft like the Typhoon and the F-35.

As we reported, the work on the drone system and data network that would have supported the Next Generation Fighter (NGF) as part of FCAS are expected to continue. It is possible the U760 could be part of Airbus’ work in the ‘Remote Carrier’ component of that next-generation program.

At @ILA_Berlin, Airbus presents Europe’s most versatile drone portfolio for defence and security. Among them is the latest addition to our range of uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft: the U760 Ravenstorm. It will support fighter pilots on a variety of missions by the early… pic.twitter.com/SitVROEbcE

— Airbus Defence (@AirbusDefence) June 9, 2026

U760 Ravenstorm

The U760 Ravenstorm features a top-mounted engine intake configuration, similar to the YFQ-42A Dark Merlin and YFQ-48A Talon Blue CCAs, and a shovel-like nose similarly to the latter. The aircraft also bears some resemblance to the XQ-58A Valkyrie, on which Airbus is already working.

The concept rendition shows what appear to be sensor arrays on the sides and the nose, although their nature is unclear. The 1:1 mock-up shown at the exhibition shows two Meteor Beyond Visual-Range air-to-air missiles (BVRAAM) beside the aircraft as a representative payload.

At this time there is no definitive information about the weapon carriage configuration, including whether the weapons will be carried internally or externally. Regarding the dimensions, Airbus says the display model has a wingspan of 10 meters and a length of 13 meters.

The U760 Ravenstorm (pic 1) being debuted at this year’s #ILA2026 appears to be the latest iteration of the Wingman (pic 2) that made its appearance at the same event in 2024, but which is now absent from Airbus’ drone portfolio announcement below. Not as sleek and eye-catching,… https://t.co/Q6ZppEnYkF pic.twitter.com/jsglDNz7AF

— Gareth Jennings (@GarethJennings3) June 9, 2026

The company described Ravenstorm as a family of “scalable” UCCAs that represent the roadmap in that category of aircraft, and said they would be capable of air-to-air, air-to-ground and electronic warfare missions. “Optimised for multi-domain missions, the UCCA’s capabilities include air-to-surface strikes using precision-guided munitions, air-to-air defence with long and medium-range anti-aircraft missiles, and electronic warfare for suppressing enemy air defences and offensive counter-air using non-kinetic jamming. Ravenstorm will be available in the early 2030s,” said Airbus in the press release.

Interestingly, the Ravenstorm is also based on the experience accumulated since the EADS Barracuda demonstrator flew 20 years ago, as noted by Airbus.

“Airbus builds on two decades of UCCA experience, starting with the Barracuda demonstrator that flew for the first time 20 years ago,” said the company. “It marked a pioneering step in uncrewed collaborative combat, introducing design principles that have since shaped this class of capability. Airbus is pursuing a phased capability build-up to meet urgent operational UCCA needs.”

On a side note, sure it’s not lost on anyone just how similar the Valkyrie is to the EADS (now Airbus Defence and Space) #Barracuda. A curious case of history at least rhyming, if not actually repeating itself… pic.twitter.com/ay9BnkqKCo

— Gareth Jennings (@GarethJennings3) July 16, 2025

The Valkyrie meanwhile, integrated with Airbus’ proprietary Multiplatform Autonomous Reconfigurable and Secure (MARS) Mission System, is being developed to “deliver an operational, sovereign UCCA to the German Air Force by 2029.” The company added that “this foundational step will enable operational experimentation, initial air-to-ground capabilities, and the teaming of the Valkyrie with the Eurofighter.”

Germany has signed on for the Eurofighter Tranche 5, and is also a future customer of the F-35A Lightning II, having ordered 35 airframes and considering 15 more. However, it is still unclear if the U760 would operate with the U.S.-made fighter.

Future

This debut would make the U760 the fifth CCA to be in the running in the European market and, after the CA-1 Europa, is the second publicly unveiled system indigenously developed by the continent’s defense industry. Other systems currently being worked in Europe are of foreign origin, like the MQ-28A Ghost Bat, the Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie (in the U740 variant) and the Turkish Kizilelma.

The MQ-28 and XQ-58 are also being considered by Germany, with the latter being customized by Airbus in cooperation with Kratos, as mentioned earlier. Kizilelma, following new agreements, will be heavily customized with mission systems from Leonardo for the European market, but there is currently no information about possible customers.