Airbus unveils U760 Ravenstorm stealth combat drone at ILA 2026 to improve European defense.

Airbus unveiled the U760 Ravenstorm Uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft via a full-scale mock-up at the ILA 2026 aerospace exhibition in Berlin. The deployment of this high-subsonic, six-tonne autonomous platform establishes a sovereign European technological roadmap alongside the near-term U740 Valkyrie to reduce dependence on foreign-restricted airframes by 2032. This structural division separates immediate operational experimentation from long-term European design control while expanding the missile carriage, strike capabilities, and electronic warfare options of existing crewed fighter formations.

The U760 Ravenstorm features a 13-meter length, a 10-meter wingspan, a six-tonne maximum take-off weight, and an internal payload capacity exceeding 500 kilograms. Powered by the platform-agnostic Multi-platform Autonomous Reconfigurable and Secure mission system, the combat drone is designed to execute high-subsonic air-to-air, air-to-ground, and non-kinetic jamming operations by 2032.

Related topic: Helsing unveils new CA1-EA electronic attack drone at ILA 2026 to offer European alternative to U.S. EA-18G Growler

Airbus' MARS system is planned for the U760 Ravenstorm, U740 Valkyrie, U680 Bird of Prey and U950 Eurodrone, creating a common autonomy foundation across four unmanned aircraft with different sizes, speeds, and missions. (Picture source: Army Recognition)

On June 10, 2026, Airbus unveiled the U760 Ravenstorm at ILA 2026, a new Uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (UCCA) intended to enter service by 2032 and operate with crewed fighters in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground strike missions, and electronic warfare. The 13 m-long, 10 m-wingspan unmanned aircraft appeared through a full-scale 1:1 mock-up, entering Airbus’ UCCA portfolio alongside the U740 Valkyrie, and creating a two-aircraft roadmap that combines a near-term Valkyrie capability for the German Air Force by 2029 with a larger European-designed Ravenstorm by 2032.

The Ravenstorm has a 6-tonne maximum take-off weight, an internal payload capacity above 500 kg, and a high-subsonic cruise regime. Those figures place it well above small tactical drones, such as 25 kg to 120 kg systems, and closer to the mass, volume, and mission profile required for fighter operations in contested airspace. Airbus’ two-tier UCCA approach separates immediate operational experimentation from longer-term European design control. The U740 Valkyrie gives the German Air Force a faster path by using the U.S. Kratos XQ-58A airframe, with Airbus integrating its own mission architecture for European requirements, including Eurofighter teaming and initial air-to-ground capability.

The 2029 Valkyrie target creates a three-year bridge before the Ravenstorm’s planned 2032 availability, allowing crews, commanders, and engineers to test command relationships, autonomy limits, human supervision, communications links, and weapons employment before fielding a larger unmanned aircraft. The Ravenstorm is therefore not simply another drone in the same category, but the follow-on indigenous air vehicle in a sequence that starts with a U.S.-origin airframe and moves toward European-made airframe, mission system and autonomy control. Both aircraft rely on MARS, giving Airbus a common software and control layer across different aircraft instead of building separate autonomy solutions for each type. 

The U760 Ravenstorm measures 13 m in length and 10 m in wingspan, while its maximum take-off weight of around 6 tonnes gives it enough structural and fuel volume to support high-subsonic flight, internal carriage, and fighter-relevant missions. The 500+ kg internal payload capacity is also large enough for air-to-air missiles, precision-guided air-to-surface munitions, electronic warfare equipment, or combinations of mission systems. Internal carriage also matters because air-to-air missiles, strike munitions, and jamming payloads mounted externally would increase radar signature and drag, reducing survivability and range.

The aircraft’s dimensions also show why it fills a segment between expendable attritable systems and crewed fighters: it is too large to be treated as a simple low-cost decoy, but smaller and less personnel-intensive than a manned combat aircraft. This size class, also cheaper than an F-35, supports distributed operations in which uncrewed aircraft carry weapons, sensors or jammers while crewed aircraft retain command, targeting, and engagement authority. The Ravenstorm uses a dorsal air intake above the fuselage, which reduces the direct frontal radar view into the engine compressor area and leaves the lower fuselage available for internal payload volume.

The swept wings and twin canted vertical tails give the aircraft a layout consistent with reduced-observable collaborative combat aircraft rather than conventional MALE UAVs built mainly for persistence and sensor coverage. The fuselage shaping prioritizes forward and side-sector signature reduction, which is most relevant when the aircraft is advancing toward defended areas or operating ahead of crewed fighters. This does not make the aircraft a crewed stealth fighter equivalent, but it indicates design choices linked to survivability, internal weapons carriage, and operations inside air defense threat envelopes. The configuration is therefore closer to a combat adjunct for fighter formations than to a permissive-environment ISR aircraft. 

The air-to-air role is central because the U760 Ravenstorm is intended to expand a fighter package’s missile capacity without adding pilots. Medium-range and long-range air-to-air missiles carried by uncrewed aircraft can increase the number of available shots in a formation, create additional firing positions, and separate missile carriage from the crewed aircraft, such as the Eurofighter, that may hold the main sensor picture or mission command role. In practical terms, two Eurofighters could use four collaborative aircraft to push weapons farther forward, distribute them laterally across a wider formation, or hold missiles at risk-tolerant positions that would be less acceptable for a crewed aircraft.

This changes the geometry of air combat by multiplying launch points and complicating an adversary’s ability to determine which aircraft is carrying weapons, sensing, jamming, or commanding the engagement. The Ravenstorm’s air-to-air function, therefore, distinguishes it from European UAV programs centered on reconnaissance, endurance, or maritime surveillance, because its value depends on direct integration into fighter tactics. The strike and electronic warfare roles add a second layer of operational utility. The Ravenstorm is intended to employ precision-guided air-to-surface munitions, giving a fighter package an additional strike carrier that can be tasked against ground targets without assigning another crewed jet.

Electronic warfare is not a peripheral function in the design: the aircraft is intended to support suppression of enemy air defenses and offensive counter-air missions through non-kinetic jamming effects. That combination allows the same aircraft type to carry weapons on one mission, electronic attack payloads on another, or mixed effects where payload capacity permits. A force package using the Ravenstorm could therefore reduce the need to bring separate dedicated support aircraft for some missions, especially when the requirement is to jam, confuse, or degrade enemy sensors while also holding kinetic options.

This mirrors the direction of several collaborative combat aircraft programs in the United States, Europe, and allied markets, where the aircraft is expected to be a weapons node, a sensor node, and an electronic effects node depending on the mission. MARS, the Multi-platform Autonomous Reconfigurable and Secure mission system, is the link between the Ravenstorm and Airbus’ wider uncrewed portfolio. The same architecture is planned for the U760 Ravenstorm, U740 Valkyrie, U680 Bird of Prey, and U950 Eurodrone, which means Airbus is trying to standardize autonomy, mission execution, and control software across very different roles.

The system includes AI-enabled autonomy functions and is built for aircraft-independent integration, allowing software improvements to move across the portfolio instead of remaining locked to one asset. This matters because collaborative combat aircraft will need frequent upgrades in autonomy behavior, mission planning, threat response, communications resilience, and electronic warfare logic. A modular software core also reduces redesign pressure on the airframe: new functions can be inserted incrementally, while the aircraft’s basic structure, payload bays, propulsion arrangement, and flight characteristics remain stable.

The result is a new autonomous combat ecosystem centered on mission software as much as on the aircraft themselves. The Ravenstorm enters a European combat aviation environment shaped by uncertainty over future fighter programs and by growing demand for sovereign uncrewed combat aircraft. Airbus faces competitors including Kratos, Boeing, General Atomics, Rheinmetall, Helsing, and Baykar-Leonardo, each pursuing parts of the emerging fighter-teaming market.

If introduced by 2032, Ravenstorm would sit among the first operational European combat drones built specifically to work with crewed fighters rather than as stand-alone surveillance aircraft. Its main significance is not only the airframe, but the combination of internal payload carriage, reduced-observable configuration, electronic attack role, missile-carrying function, and shared MARS autonomy architecture, which together show Europe’s shift toward integrated crewed-uncrewed air combat rather than separate drone procurement.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.

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