Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ: KTOS) announced that a missionized U.S. Marine Corps Valkyrie Collaborative Combat Aircraft successfully demonstrated electronic warfare capabilities and beyond-line-of-sight command and control in southern California in April 2026.

The runway-independent aircraft launched from a zero-length launcher and transitioned from a Kratos ground control station to an Autonomy Government Reference Architecture-compliant human machine interface developed by Autonodyne, LLC, allowing a USMC operator to control the vehicle beyond line-of-sight. The Valkyrie flew alongside multiple USMC F-35s and an F/A-18, met coordinated electronic warfare test objectives, and returned autonomously to its recovery point.

The Expeditionary Maritime Aviation-Advanced Development Team led the integrated test team, with support from a USMC Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron, United States Naval Air Test and Evaluation Squadrons, Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Autonodyne, LLC.

Steve Fendley, President of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division, said the demonstration was "the fourth new mission system configuration flown on USMC Valkyrie platforms in less than three years." He added that Kratos expects to produce over 150 Group 5 unmanned jet aircraft in 2026, with production scaling toward approximately 40 Valkyries annually.

In January 2026, Kratos and Northrop Grumman Mission Systems received the U.S. Marine Corps' Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Expeditionary Tactical Aircraft contract. The first prototype Missionized Valkyrie Air Vehicle under that contract is on track to be completed in summer 2026, according to the company.