IFC 2026: Airbus axes Wingman CCA in favour of Ravenstorm

A full-scale mockup of the Airbus U760 Ravenstorm CCA at the IQPC International Fighter Conference 2026 in Munch. The company aims to have the platform ready for a 2032 in-service date. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

Airbus Defence and Space (DS) has cancelled development of its Wingman uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) in favour of the U760 Ravenstorm, a company official told Janes and other defence media on 3 November 2026.

Speaking on the fringes of the IQPC International Fighter Conference (IFC) 2026 in Munich, the head of marketing for future airpower and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) at Airbus DS, Laurent Le Quement, said that the Wingman that was debuted as a full-scale mockup at the ILA Berlin Airshow 2024 had been discontinued as it could not meet the increasingly ambitious timeline being demanded by potential customers. Instead, he said, the Ravenstorm that was revealed at the same ILA Airshow in 2026 will now be developed with a view to entry into service in 2032.

“The customers have asked us to bring the need forward, so we decided to rejig our whole approach and to go for [Ravenstorm instead of Wingman]. Based on the [Airbus] Barracuda [demonstrator from the early 2000s], Ravenstorm is a trusted design, and we know it can fly,” Le Quement said, adding that the proposed superpsonic performance of the Wingman was not a requirement for today's potential CCA customers, and that the high-subsonic performance of the Ravenstorm while able to carry a 500 kg+ payload was currently good enough.