German defense startup Helsing has unveiled a new uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV), the CA-1 Europa. The company is targeting a first flight in 2027 for the UCAV, which looks very similar to the MQ-28 Ghost Bat. Boeing’s Australian subsidiary developed Ghost Bat first as a ‘loyal wingman’ drone for the Royal Australian Air Force, under the Airpower Teaming System. The U.S. Air Force has also now acquired at least one example ostensibly to support research and development and test and evaluation efforts.
A full-size mockup of the single-engined CA-1 (Combat Aircraft 1) was presented today at Helsing’s Tussenhausen facility in Bavaria. The basic shape of the UCAV’s angular fuselage, dogtooth-type wing, side-mounted intakes, and V-tail all strongly echo the MQ-28. However, it’s a configuration that has meanwhile been adopted for other drones, too. The Helsing drone has a weight of around 8,800 pounds and a length of around 36 feet, also very similar to the MQ-28, and both share tricycle landing gear for operations from conventional runways.
While the CA-1 will carry internal weapons, Helsing has not revealed the size of the payloads or the types of munitions envisioned for it.
As for the company behind the CA-1, Helsing was founded in 2021 and is so far best known for its AI software. Technologies developed by Helsing have found their way into smaller drones used by Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of that country.
The company’s timeline for the CA-1 includes a first flight in 2027 and operational service before 2031. To meet this goal, Helsing says it will invest hundreds of millions of euros in the project and will also collaborate with other unspecified European companies. Still, investing money and collaborating with others is one thing, actually realizing such a capability is another, especially for a company that is not known for making large advanced unmanned aircraft at scale. Then again America’s Anduril was in a similar position when they put forward Fury for the USAF Collaborative Combat Aircraft program and won. But in that case, the base Fury design was already far along in development as an aggressor drone from Blue Force Technologies, which the company acquired.
Helsing says that the CA-1 will feature autonomous capabilities. While the degree to which it will be able to fly missions without human interaction is currently unclear, Helsing has said that it expects the CA-1 to be able to operate alone, or in clusters of other drones, as well as working in collaboration with crewed fighters.
The CA-1 arrives on the scene at a time of rapid proliferation of drones of this kind, driven by air forces’ desire to increase ‘combat mass,’ in more contested environments, aided by cheaper and more disposable uncrewed platforms.
Increasingly, this space is being entered by military startups and tech firms like Helsing, which are seeking to dislodge better-established defense heavyweights.
Like the Ghost Bat, the CA-1 is primarily intended for a loyal wingman-type role working together with crewed platforms, something that is of growing interest in Germany and elsewhere.
Most notably, in Germany, Airbus Defense and Space recently announced it had teamed up with Kratos Defense and Security Solutions to provide the stealthy XQ-58A Valkyrie drone to the German Luftwaffe. As we have discussed, the partnership may well also seek to offer the Valkyrie to other European nations, too.
Airbus plans for a ‘Europeanized’ Valkyrie drone to be ready for the Luftwaffe by 2029. At this stage, it’s not clear if the German Ministry of Defense has a specific requirement to buy the XQ-58A; there are certainly signs that it wants to introduce a similar platform in the future.
Now, Helsing’s CA-1 could provide competition for the same role.
It’s worth noting that Airbus also has other offerings in this area.
In 2024, Airbus unveiled a stealthy loyal wingman concept of its own, known as Wingman. At the time, the company said that the Luftwaffe had “expressed a clear need” for a drone that would be able to operate in conjunction with crewed fighters before the arrival in service of the pan-European Future Combat Air System (FCAS). The FCAS program is aiming for service entry in the 2040s, with a crewed New Generation Fighter (NGF) as its centerpiece.
At this point, the future of the pan-European FCAS program, and especially of Germany’s place within it, is increasingly under scrutiny.
Regardless, it seems clear that Germany is looking for a loyal wingman-type drone, whatever the fate of FCAS.
In particular, there is a requirement for an uncrewed companion to work alongside Germany’s forthcoming Eurofighter EK electronic warfare jets. As well as Eurofighter, more of which are on order, Germany might well seek to have UCAVs work alongside the F-35A stealth jets it also has on order. This would mirror U.S. Air Force plans for the F-35, which it expects to operate together with drones, developed under the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program.
The combination of the stealth jet and complementary drones is seen as a fundamental part of the planned future U.S. Air Force, and it’s an idea that is gaining traction in other nations, as well.
Overall, it seems that UCAVs are increasingly seen as a solution to rebuilding air forces in Europe after many years in which they were reduced in size and saw some of their previous capabilities atrophy. Driven by growing tensions between NATO and Russia, defense spending in Europe — including in Germany — is on the rise, and the need to expand air forces rapidly and cost-effectively is putting drones very much in the spotlight.
The CA-1 Europa looks to be a tailor-made solution for air forces — including the German Luftwaffe — looking at ways of rebuilding combat mass but doing it on a budget. However, it will face stiff competition with more established players in what is fast becoming a crowded marketplace for loyal wingman-type drones.
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