Defense

With the Franco-German fighter jet program scrapped, AI-powered wingman drones are racing to fill the void—as Boeing, Airbus, and Helsing compete for billions in European defense contracts. Stealthy autonomous wingman drones designed to accompany crewed fighter jets in high-risk combat captured center stage at the Berlin airshow as Europe and the United States accelerate autonomous defense modernization. Four companies—Airbus, Boeing, German defense AI startup Helsing, and General Atomics—showcased their latest collaborative combat aircraft designs at the ILA Berlin Airshow on June 16, targeting Germany's military and a European defense market reshaped by geopolitical upheaval. The industry showcase coincides with a pivotal strategic shift. Germany, France, and Spain this month shelved the manned fighter component of their joint Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program—a €100 billion ($116 billion) initiative—after irreconcilable disputes between French prime contractor Dassault Aviation and Germany's Airbus Defence and Space over work-share arrangements and intellectual property rights. While the crewed fighter is dead, the partner governments have pledged to preserve the program's software-defined "Combat Cloud" and swarming loyal wingman drones. The war in Ukraine has sharpened the urgency. European and U.S. defense planners now recognize that disrupting sensors and communications can be as critical as kinetic strikes—elevating demand for expendable, AI-powered uncrewed platforms. "The AI agent, of course, the brain of these systems, needs to be controlled in a sovereign fashion," said Stephanie Lingemann, head of air domain at Helsing, at the airshow. Wingman drones—formally designated as collaborative combat aircraft (CCA)—range in size from small interceptors to near-aircraft-scale platforms. They fly in what the industry calls a "loyal wingman" configuration, flanking manned jets while carrying sensors, jammers, and weapons. Boeing Unveils Upgraded Ghost Bat Boeing showcased its MQ-28 Ghost Bat, a collaborative combat aircraft developed by Boeing Defence Australia that has already completed extensive flight testing. Boeing Australia's Managing Director Amy List insisted the platform was not a drone but an unmanned jet designed "to enhance the capabilities, be a force multiplier for crewed platforms." "It can go out ahead of crewed platforms, provide situational awareness, analyse data, it can fuse that data and provide decision-making quality information back to a human," List told Reuters. At the Berlin Airshow, Boeing revealed significant design upgrades. The Ghost Bat's wingspan has grown by more than 25%, expanding internal fuel capacity by approximately 907 kilograms and raising the platform's maximum takeoff weight from 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds) to 5,443 kilograms (12,000 pounds). The upgraded aircraft features a modular nose section for rapid payload changes, beyond-line-of-sight satellite control, and an internal weapons bay capable of carrying two AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles or four GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs. To compete for Germany's requirement for up to 400 fighter-bomber drones by 2029, Boeing and Rheinmetall formalized an agreement on March 31, 2026, establishing "Team Ghost Bat Germany." Diehl Defence and Rohde & Schwarz later joined the consortium for weapons integration and secure communications, respectively. Boeing says the Ghost Bat can be operational for the German Luftwaffe by 2029. Airbus Fields Dual-Track Strategy Airbus unveiled a full-scale mockup of its U760b Ravenstorm—a stealthy, single-engine platform measuring 13 meters in length with a 10-meter wingspan and a maximum takeoff weight of approximately 6 tons. The Ravenstorm is configured for precision air-to-surface strikes, air-to-air defense, and electronic warfare, controlled by Airbus' proprietary Multiplatform Autonomous Reconfigurable and Secure (MARS) AI system. Airbus does not expect the Ravenstorm to reach operational availability until the early 2030s. For near-term capability, Airbus is also offering the U740 Valkyrie—a Europeanized variant of the American Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie designed as a lower-risk platform for early operational experimentation, with a service-entry target of 2029. Helsing Makes Its Case for Ai-first Defense Munich-based Helsing, chaired by Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek, formalized its CA-1 Europa autonomous combat aircraft into a two-variant family at the airshow. The CA-1 is an 11-meter-long, 10-meter-wingspan platform with a maximum takeoff weight of 4 tons, developed in partnership with German sensor specialist Hensoldt and manufactured by Helsing's subsidiary, Grob Aircraft. The CA-1KA kinetic attack variant targets Initial Operating Capability in 2029. The CA-1EA electronic attack variant—designed to operate in autonomous swarms ahead of crewed fighters using Hensoldt's multi-domain operations software and Helsing's Cirra deep-learning electronic warfare system—targets IOC in 2031. Helsing is nearing the close of a $1.2 billion Series E funding round led by Dragoneer, valuing the company at approximately $18 billion and making it Europe's most valuable privately held defense AI firm. The company holds a €269 million Bundestag-approved contract for HX-2 loitering munitions that can scale to €1.46 billion over seven years. However, Ukraine and Germany paused further HX-2 orders in January 2026 after battlefield trials revealed targeting and navigation failures under GPS-denied jamming conditions—a stark reminder of the gap between simulation and contested physical environments. U.S. Air Force Enters Procurement Phase While European programs remain in development, the U.S. Air Force has moved its Collaborative Combat Aircraft program from experimental testing into large-scale procurement. The Pentagon's fiscal year 2027 budget request calls for approximately $2.52 billion in total CCA funding—up from $842 million enacted in FY2026—to initiate the purchase of the first operational lot of Increment 1 platforms. The Air Force aims to acquire more than 150 Increment 1 CCAs by the end of fiscal year 2031, with a long-term requirement of 1,000 to 2,000 platforms spanning multiple capability increments. The fleet is designed to operate alongside the F-35 Lightning II, the F-22 Raptor, and the F-47—the newly designated crewed component of the Next Generation Air Dominance program, built by Boeing. Two prime contractors are competing under Increment 1. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems suffered a setback on April 6, 2026, when its YFQ-42A Dark Merlin test aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from a California desert facility. A joint Air Force-General Atomics safety review traced the cause to an autopilot software miscalculation during takeoff rotation. Following software remediation, the YFQ-42A Dark Merlin returned to flight testing on May 21, 2026. Anduril Industries' YFQ-44A Fury—a fighter-like platform derived from Blue Force Technologies—flies at altitudes up to 50,000 feet at speeds of Mach 0.95 and is powered by a single Williams FJ44-4M turbofan engine. Throughout all flight operations, the Air Force maintains that a human operator retains ultimate authority over weapons release decisions. On April 23, 2026, the Netherlands became the first international ally to commit funding to the U.S. CCA program, purchasing two Increment 1 platforms that will operate with U.S. forces at Nellis Air Force Base, with Dutch personnel embedded to develop joint coalition concepts of operations. Rival Allied Program Advances The rival Global Combat Air Programme—a trilateral partnership among Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom—aims to deliver a sixth-generation stealth combat aircraft by 2035. The GCAP Agency is scheduled to sign a multi-billion-pound international contract with its industrial joint venture, Edgewing, by the end of June 2026, following a bilateral UK-Japan economic and security partnership valued at £18 billion ($24 billion). Lockheed Martin and Anduril are expected to display collaborative combat aircraft technologies at Britain's Farnborough Airshow, starting July 20. Key Takeaways Germany, France, and Spain terminated the manned fighter component of the €100 billion ($116 billion) FCAS program in June 2026, redirecting focus to swarming wingman drones and AI-driven combat networks. Boeing's upgraded MQ-28 Ghost Bat, Airbus's U760b Ravenstorm, and Helsing's CA-1 Europa were among the collaborative combat aircraft displayed at the ILA Berlin Airshow, with entry-to-service timelines between 2029 and the early 2030s. The U.S. Air Force requested approximately $2.52 billion in FY2027 to begin procuring more than 150 Increment 1 collaborative combat aircraft by the end of fiscal year 2031. General Atomics' YFQ-42A Dark Merlin returned to flight testing on May 21, 2026, following an April 6 crash caused by an autopilot software miscalculation. The Netherlands became the first international ally to commit funding to the U.S. CCA program on April 23, 2026.

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