Australia’s Ghost Bat military drone could conduct live firing tests as early as this year, as US aerospace manufacturer Boeing moves forward with the program after a series of successful tests.
After six years of development, Boeing said it had proved the “operational viability of the MQ-28” through a series of successful tests with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) at the top secret Woomera weapons range.
The first domestically designed and built military aircraft in more than 50 years, the MQ-28 has been built to fly as a ‘loyal wingman’ alongside crewed RAAF aircraft, including the E-7A Wedgetail and F-35 fighter jets.
Demonstrations reached a significant milestone in June, when RAAF operators aboard an E-7A Wedgetail directed two MQ-28 aircraft for a mission against an airborne target.
But Boeing now says the aircraft also completed other missions, including deployment operations to RAAF Base Tindal and data fusion and sharing between multiple units, in June and four months ahead of schedule.
“The RAAF set the task of proving the first four steps in the Air Combat chain for the MQ-28 and we have accomplished that sooner than anticipated,” Boeing’s Glen Ferguson said.
Mr Ferguson, who leads the global MQ-28 program, said completing the work early would allow Boeing to “accelerate the next phase of development — engage and assess” in late 2025 or early 2026.
That includes an “air-to-air weapon shot”, confirming that the Ghost Bat will be capable of carrying missiles, not just limited to intelligence gathering and surveillance.
“The demonstrations have proven the maturity of MQ-28’s capabilities and the utility of Collaborative Combat Aircraft and their application to the future force mix,” Mr Ferguson added.
Boeing plans to incorporate this year’s testing into the “Block 2 aircraft now in production, forming the basis of an initial operational capability for the RAAF and allied partners”.
As many as eight Block 1 vehicles have undertaken 150 hours of physical testing and 20,000-plus hours of virtual testing across multiple scenarios since testing began in 2021.
Close to $1 billion has been invested in the Ghost Bat program (and the former Loyal Wingman autonomous aerial vehicle program) since 2017, with the last significant top-up in 2024.
The latest $400 million is being used to secure three working prototypes of a next generation ‘Block Two’ version of the high-tech combat drone, including refining commercial production processes.
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