The XQ-58A Valkyrie is a US Air Force attritable autonomous combat aircraft made by Kratos. It flies as an autonomous wingman alongside crewed fighters and can carry sensors, weapons, or electronic warfare payloads. It has a Mach 0.72 speed, ~4,500 km range, and 270 kg payload.

How does the Valkyrie compare to Anduril's Fury?

Kratos is targeting 40 Valkyries per year by end-2027; Anduril's Arsenal-1 can already produce 150 YFQ-44A Fury aircraft per year. The 3.75x production gap has made analysts price down-selection risk into Kratos stock, which fell 5.3% after a Q1 2026 earnings beat.Source: Kratos Q1 2026 earnings call

Has the XQ-58A Valkyrie been used in live combat?

The Valkyrie has been used as a testbed for autonomous flight and human-machine teaming, including DARPA's ACE dogfighting programme. There is no confirmed combat deployment in live conflict zones as of May 2026.

Background

The XQ-58A Valkyrie is a low-cost attritable autonomous combat aircraft (LCAAC) developed by Kratos Unmanned Systems for the US Air Force under the Loyal Wingman and Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) programmes. Designed to fly alongside crewed fighter aircraft as an autonomous wingman, the Valkyrie carries sensors, electronic warfare payloads, or weapons, and is built to be expendable at a fraction of a conventional fighter's cost. The aircraft has a speed of approximately Mach 0.72, a range of approximately 4,500 km, and can carry a 270 kg payload internally.

Kratos opened production on a second lot of twelve XQ-58A aircraft in early 2026 and is targeting approximately 40 Valkyries per year by end-2027 . This rate faces direct comparison with Anduril's Arsenal-1 facility in Columbus, Ohio, rated at 150 YFQ-44A Fury aircraft per year already, a 3.75x production gap. The gap has become a central metric in analyst assessments of CCA programme down-selection risk, contributing to a 5.3% stock fall for Kratos after a Q1 beat on revenue.

On 6 July 2026, Kratos broke ground on a 106,000 sq ft expansion at its Oklahoma facility, capacity investment aimed directly at closing the production gap that has weighed on the stock since Q1. The expansion commits capital ahead of confirmed order volume, a bet that the CCA down-selection will reward whichever manufacturer can prove throughput, not just unit cost.

Valkyrie has been used as a testbed for autonomous flight behaviour and human-machine teaming concepts. It participated in DARPA's ACE (Air Combat Evolution) programme dogfighting trials. The Pentagon's $54.6 billion Defence Autonomous Warfare Group budget provides Runway for both platforms in the near term, but analysts expect a production-rate-driven down-selection by the FY2028 budget cycle.