XQ-58A Valkyrie flying in front of two F-35 fighters. Photo: Defense Department
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions [KTOS] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] said on Jan. 8 that the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Uncrewed Expeditionary Tactical Aircraft (MUX TACAIR) Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program has awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman–an award that Kratos had expected would come around the middle of last year, but that came late because of the government shutdown, which ended on Nov. 12, 2025.
The MUX TACAIR award “combines Northrop Grumman’s uncrewed capabilities and autonomous leadership with Kratos’ Valkyrie uncrewed aerial system to work alongside crewed fighters to provide air dominance in high-threat environments,” the companies said.
Northrop Grumman said that it is developing an advanced sensor and software-defined mission kit for drone effects, the Prism open architecture autonomy software package, and Valkyrie features, including conventional takeoff and landing, a modular airframe for different sized runways, and “payload bays for customizable effects.”
Steve Fendley, the president of Kratos’ unmanned systems division, said in the companies’ statement that fusing Kratos’ Valkyrie with Northrop Grumman’s mission systems will lead to “a high-capability CCA at a price point that enables the uncrewed systems to be deployed in mass with crewed aircraft.”
“With more than 20 successful flight demonstrations in operationally relevant environments, Northrop Grumman and Kratos are offering the U.S. Marine Corps a low risk, expedited path to MUX TACAIR mission capability and persistent joint crewed and uncrewed expeditionary operations,” the companies said.
The U.S. Marine Corps first flew an XQ-58A Valkyrie on Oct. 3, 2023.
Valkyrie, originally developed as a rocket-aided rail take-off drone, began testing in 2020 with the Air Force Research Laboratory as part of the Skyborg Vanguard program–a predecessor to the Air Force’s CCA program.
A version of this story originally appeared in affiliate publication Defense Daily.