USMC Valkyrie Demonstrates Beyond-Line-Of-Sight Command and Control in Flight at U.S. Navy Test Range
Rhea-AI Summary
Kratos Defense (Nasdaq: KTOS) reported that a missionized US Marine Corps Valkyrie Collaborative Combat Aircraft successfully demonstrated electronic warfare and beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) command and control at a U.S. Navy test range in southern California in April 2026. The runway-independent Valkyrie launched from a zero-length launcher, validated a BLOS datalink, and handed off control from a Kratos ground station to an Autonodyne A-GRA-compliant interface, enabling USMC operators to control the aircraft over BLOS while flying with USMC F-35s and an F/A-18.
Kratos said the Valkyrie autonomously returned to its recovery point and that this is the fourth new mission system configuration flown on USMC Valkyries in under three years. The company expects to produce over 150 Group 5 unmanned jets in 2026 and is scaling toward approximately 40 Valkyries annually, supported by significant internally funded investments. Kratos also highlighted its role with Northrop Grumman on the USMC’s MUX TACAIR CCA program, with the first prototype Valkyrie air vehicle on track for completion in summer 2026.
Positive
- Successful EW and BLOS C2 demo on USMC Valkyrie at U.S. Navy test range in April 2026
- Fourth mission system configuration flown on USMC Valkyries in less than three years
- Valkyrie autonomous launch and recovery plus coordinated flight with USMC F-35s and an F/A-18
- Kratos expects to produce 150+ Group 5 unmanned jets in 2026
- Production scaling toward approximately 40 Valkyrie aircraft annually to meet domestic and international demand
- Participation in USMC MUX TACAIR CCA contract with Northrop Grumman; first prototype Valkyrie on track for summer 2026
- Supported by significant internally funded investments across U.S. facilities to expand unmanned systems capacity
Negative
- None.
Key Figures
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | 24h Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 17 | Engine designation award | Positive | -2.0% | GEK800 received military designation and a JASSM engineering contract award |
| Aug 10 | Missile defense test | Positive | +2.7% | Kratos target systems supported U.S.-Japan missile defense flight testing |
| Aug 06 | Seeker contract award | Positive | +3.7% | Kratos received a U.S. Army contract for a next-generation Javelin seeker |
| Aug 04 | 2Q26 earnings report | Positive | +6.7% | Revenue growth and raised full-year guidance accompanied second-quarter results |
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
Kratos's recent target-company announcements were usually followed by positive 24-hour reactions, with three aligned gains and one divergence.
Key Terms
beyond line-of-sight technical
electronic warfare technical
datalink technical
human machine interface technical
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a Technology Company in the Defense, National Security and Global Markets and an industry-leading provider of high-performance, jet-powered unmanned aerial systems, announced today that a missionized United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) Valkyrie Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) successfully demonstrated Electronic Warfare (EW) capabilities and beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) command and control (C2) datalink in southern California in April 2026.
For the operation, the missionized, runway-independent Valkyrie aircraft launched from a zero-length launcher, validated and characterized the BLOS system and then transitioned seamlessly from the Kratos ground control station to an Autonomy Government Reference Architecture (A-GRA)-compliant human machine interface (HMI), developed by Autonodyne, LLC, which allowed a USMC operator to control the vehicle over BLOS. Flying with multiple USMC F-35’s and an F/A-18, the Valkyrie successfully met coordinated EW test objectives before returning autonomously to the recovery point at the end of the mission.
The Expeditionary Maritime Aviation-Advanced Development Team (XMA-ADT) led the Integrated Test Team with support provided by 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 Valkyrie team continues to pave the way and demonstrate critical unmanned technologies that allow the U.S. Marine Corps and our military partners to effectively close kill chains in contested environments. This is the fourth new mission system configuration flown on USMC Valkyrie platforms in less than three years, each advancing deeper integration with the air vehicle, subsystems, and datalinks. Combined with Valkyrie’s flexible, open systems architecture, vendor-agnostic autonomy, and leading payload and power capacity, we are enabling rapid deployment of new capabilities at unmatched speed. At the same time, Kratos is producing more Group 5 unmanned jet aircraft than any other provider, with over 150 systems expected this year and production scaling toward approximately 40 Valkyries annually to satisfy demand across our complete domestic and international customer base. This is supported by significant internally funded investments across U.S. facilities to deliver affordable, high-performance systems at the pace and scale required by today’s warfighter.”
In January 2026, Kratos and Northrop Grumman Mission Systems announced award of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Expeditionary Tactical Aircraft (MUX TACAIR) CCA contract. Northrop Grumman and Kratos will rapidly develop and deliver Missionized Valkyrie Air Vehicle (MVAV) platforms featuring Northrop Grumman’s cost-effective mission kit and Open Architecture Autonomy Software, providing a low risk, expedited path to the MUX TACAIR mission. The first prototype MUX TACAIR Valkyrie Air Vehicle is on track to be completed in summer 2026.
About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS) is a technology, products, system and software company addressing the defense, national security, and commercial markets. Kratos makes true internally funded research, development, capital and other investments, to rapidly develop, produce and field solutions that address our customers’ mission critical needs and requirements. At Kratos, affordability is a technology, and we seek to utilize proven, leading-edge approaches and technology, not unproven bleeding edge approaches or technology, with Kratos’ approach designed to reduce cost, schedule and risk, enabling us to be first to market with cost effective solutions. We believe that Kratos is known as an innovative disruptive change agent in the industry, a company that is an expert in designing products and systems up front for successful rapid, large quantity, low-cost future manufacturing which is a value-add competitive differentiator for our large traditional prime system integrator partners and also to our government and commercial customers. Kratos intends to pursue program and contract opportunities as the prime or lead contractor when we believe that our probability of win (PWin) is high and any investment required by Kratos is within our capital resource comfort level. We intend to partner and team with a large, traditional system integrator when our assessment of PWin is greater or required investment is beyond Kratos’ comfort level. Kratos’ primary business areas include virtualized ground systems for satellites and space vehicles including software for C2 and telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C), jet powered unmanned aerial drone systems, hypersonic vehicles and rocket systems, propulsion systems for drones, missiles, loitering munitions, supersonic systems, space craft and launch systems, C5ISR and microwave electronic products for missile, radar, missile defense, space, satellite, counter UAS, directed energy, communication and other systems, and virtual & augmented reality training systems for the warfighter. For more information, visit www.KratosDefense.com and follow Kratos on LinkedIn and X.
Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of Kratos and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Kratos undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Although Kratos believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve many risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. For a further discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of Kratos in general, see the risk disclosures in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of Kratos for the year ended December 28, 2025, and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings made with the SEC by Kratos.
Press Contact:
Claire Cantrell
claire.cantrell@kratosdefense.com
Investor Information:
877-934-4687
investor@kratosdefense.com
