Boeing, RAAF Demonstrate MQ-28’s Operational Effectiveness

WOOMERA, South Australia – Boeing (BA) and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) have successfully concluded a series of demonstrations, validating the operational effectiveness of the MQ-28 Ghost Bat Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). The tests, conducted in early June, wrapped up four months ahead of schedule.

These RAAF-defined demonstrations were designed to assess the MQ-28’s ability to augment the capabilities of existing manned aircraft across a spectrum of mission profiles. The Ghost Bat, an unmanned platform, is envisioned to play a crucial role in future air combat scenarios.

To date, the MQ-28 program has logged over 150 hours of flight testing and more than 20,000 hours of virtual simulations. The Capability Demonstration 2025 validated several key aspects of the program:

• Autonomous behaviors and execution of pre-programmed missions.
• Multi-ship coordination, enhancing combat power through coordinated unmanned assets.
• Operational deployment capabilities to forward operating locations, specifically RAAF Base Tindal.
• Seamless integration with manned platforms, including the E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft. This highlights the critical human-machine teaming aspect of the program.
• Data fusion and transfer between multiple MQ-28s and subsequent relay of that data to manned aircraft, improving situational awareness and decision-making for pilots.

The MQ-28’s autonomous functionality allows it to support the fundamental principles of air combat: find, fix, track, and target while reducing risks to manned aircraft.

“The RAAF tasked us with demonstrating the first four steps in the Air Combat chain, and we exceeded expectations by achieving this milestone ahead of schedule,” stated Glen Ferguson, MQ-28 Global Program Director.

“This accelerated timeline allows us to push forward into the ‘engage and assess’ phases, including a planned air-to-air weapon shot slated for later this year or early 2026. The recent demonstrations have strongly supported the maturity of the MQ-28’s technology and capabilities, and thus the utility of CCA’s is applicable to the future war fighting scenarios,” Ferguson added.

The validated capabilities from the 2025 testing will be incorporated into the Block 2 aircraft currently in production. This will lay the groundwork for the RAAF, along with any allied partners, to reach an initial operational capability in the future.

Analysts believe the success of the MQ-28 program could have significant implications for the future of air combat. The ability to effectively integrate unmanned platforms alongside manned aircraft is seen as a critical advantage in future conflicts. Furthermore, the autonomous capabilities of the MQ-28 could free up pilots to focus on more complex tasks, while also reducing the risk of pilot casualties. Boeing’s MQ-28 program is pushing the boundaries of aviation and defense technology toward a future of sophisticated human-machine teaming.