Airbus ends Wingman drone to meet Germany’s accelerated operations timeline

The Airbus full scale Wingman model was displayed for the first time at the 2024 ILA Berlin Air Show (Photo: Breaking Defense)

MUNICH — Airbus has scrapped the development of a futuristic, unmanned wingman concept aircraft as a result of Germany accelerating the timeline for the aircraft to potentially enter service .

The European manufacturer is moving away from its Wingman drone platform , first unveiled at the Berlin Air Show in 2024 , to instead focus on developing the U760 Ravenstorm Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), according to Laurent Le Quément, head of future air power and UAS marketing at Airbus.

“Customers have asked us to bring the need [service entry] forward,” he told reporters here at the International Fighter Conference. “We decided to recheck our whole approach and to go for this [the U760].”

The original timeframe for fielding the Wingman was “definitely not early 2030s,” added Le Quément. At the CCA’s unveiling in 2024, Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space indicated that the timeline was much closer to 2040.

Despite Le Quément not identifying the customer by name, Airbus stated in 2024 that the Wingman aircraft was designed specifically to meet emerging operational requirements of the German Air Force.

In light of the tighter timeline, Airbus decided to pursue development of the U760 because it is an evolution of the company’s Barracuda drone demonstrator’s “trusted design,” said Le Quément. Work on Barracuda began in 2003, initially as a secret project and subsequently led to the completion of six flight test campaigns.

One significant difference distinguishing the Wingman and the U760 is that the Wingman was to be fitted with a bespoke engine created by Rolls Royce Deutschland and Spanish engine manufacturer ITP Aero. Meanwhile, the U760 will be fitted with a business jet engine, Le Quément explained.

“If you have something which is [intended to be] affordable, you need to be at a certain ratio of a fighter,” said Le Quément. “But if you’re talking then about something … which would be bespoke for air-to-air with an AESA [Active Electronically Scanned Array] radar in there, then you would be at a much higher cost.”

Airbus was targeting an estimated cost for the Wingman equivalent to “one third” of a manned fighter platform, per past Schoellhorn comments.

Ravenstorm offers a high subsonic cruise speed and features a 500kg (1102.3 lbs.) internal weapons bay capacity, per Airbus literature. It is the second in a family of three CCA designs also including the U740 Valkyrie, and an unnamed third system.

Airbus displays the U760 Ravenstrom CCA at the International Fighter Conference in Munich (Breaking Defense)

The U740 Valkyrie is being developed to support a 2029 German requirement, followed by Ravenstorm’s push to enter service in 2032; and rounded off by a future design that remains under assessment.

“The third one you will not see it” today, said Le Quément, noting that the aircraft is at a study phase at present, “but the idea is to investigate more bespoke designs, which will be done either for air-to-air or for EW [Electronic Warfare], and that might be something which would tend to be more exquisite.”

The company further provided an update on the U740 program, which involves an industry partnership with US firm Kratos.

Building off a first flight out of Northern Europe last month, the aircraft is scheduled to take part in a crewed-uncrewed teaming flight in collaboration with a Eurofighter Typhoon fourth-generation fighter jet next year, Marco Mehling, chief engineer system of systems concepts and capabilities at Airbus, told media in Munich today.

It was recently reported that Germany’s 2029 CCA requirement timeline is in doubt, after rethinking a direct procurement of Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat drones. The move means that competitors like Airbus, offering the Valkyrie, are still in the running to secure an order from Berlin.

“[If the] capability is used or pushed back, and they [Germany] need it in [20]32, of course, this is good for us, but we want still to be ready by the timescales that were initially mentioned”, said Mehling.

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空客全尺寸“僚机”模型在2024年柏林国际航空航天展览会（ILA Berlin Air Show）上首次亮相（图片来源：Breaking Defense）。

慕尼黑——由于德国加快了未来无人僚机概念飞机投入使用的进度，空客公司已放弃开发该飞机。

据空客未来空中力量和无人机系统营销主管洛朗·勒奎蒙 (Laurent Le Quément) 称，这家欧洲制造商正在放弃其于 2024 年柏林航展上首次亮相的 Wingman 无人机平台，转而专注于开发 U760 Ravenstorm 协同作战飞机 (CCA)。

“客户要求我们提前推出这款产品（U760）。”他在国际战斗机大会上告诉记者，“我们决定重新审视我们的整体方案，并选择这款产品。”

勒奎门特补充说，Wingman无人机的最初部署时间“绝对不是在2030年代初”。在2024年CCA的发布会上，空客防务与航天公司首席执行官迈克尔·舍尔霍恩表示，时间表更接近2040年。

尽管勒奎门特没有透露客户的名称，但空客在 2024 年表示，Wingman 飞机是专门为满足德国空军不断涌现的作战需求而设计的。

鉴于时间紧迫，空客决定继续研发U760，因为它是公司“梭鱼”（Barracuda）无人机验证机“可靠设计”的演进之作，勒奎门特（Le Quément）表示。梭鱼无人机的研发工作始于2003年，最初是一个秘密项目，随后完成了六次飞行测试。

Wingman 和 U760 的一个显著区别在于，Wingman 将配备由罗尔斯·罗伊斯德国公司和西班牙发动机制造商 ITP Aero 联合​​研发的定制发动机。而 U760 则将配备公务机发动机，勒奎门特解释道。

勒奎门特说：“如果你要制造一款价格亲民的产品，那么它的战斗机性能必须达到一定的水平。但如果你说的是那种专为空对空作战而设计，配备有源相控阵雷达的产品，那么它的成本就会高得多。”

根据 Schoellhorn 过去的评论，空客公司将 Wingman 的预计成本控制在有人驾驶战斗机平台的“三分之一”以内。

根据空客公司的资料，Ravenstorm 拥有较高的亚音速巡航速度，并配备 500 公斤（1102.3 磅）的内部武器舱。它是空客公司三款 CCA 设计中的第二款，另外两款分别是 U740 Valkyrie 和一款尚未命名的第三款系统。

空客在慕尼黑国际战斗机大会上展示了U760“雷文斯特罗姆”CCA（防务新闻）

U740 Valkyrie 正在开发中，以满足德国 2029 年的需求，随后 Ravenstorm 计划在 2032 年投入使用；最后，还有一个仍在评估中的未来设计。

勒奎门特说：“第三架飞机今天你们还看不到。”他指出，该飞机目前处于研究阶段，“但我们的想法是研究更多定制设计，这些设计将用于空对空作战或电子战，而且这些设计可能会更加精良。”

该公司还提供了有关 U740 项目的最新进展，该项目涉及与美国公司 Kratos 的行业合作。

空客系统概念与能力总工程师马尔科·梅林今天在慕尼黑向媒体表示，继上个月从北欧进行首次飞行之后，这架飞机计划明年与欧洲台风第四代战斗机合作进行有人-无人协同飞行。

据近期报道，德国重新考虑直接采购波音MQ-28“幽灵蝙蝠”无人机的计划后，其2029年全面作战能力评估（CCA）要求的实施时间表存在疑问。此举意味着，像空客这样提供“女武神”无人机的竞争对手仍然有机会赢得柏林的订单。

梅林说：“如果这项能力被使用或推迟，而他们（德国）在2032年需要它，这当然对我们来说是好事，但我们仍然希望按照最初提到的时间表做好准备。”

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