Ghost Bat

[BMJ]

Australia's Ghost Bat Drone Is Here and It's Wild!

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=q28HEXJx2vI

Wes O'Donnell
Sep 29, 2025
Australia just pulled off something big: the Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat has wrapped up its operational demonstrations four months ahead of schedule. This is the first combat aircraft Australia has built in over 50 years, and it’s a modular, flexible, combat-ready wingman that could change the balance in the Indo-Pacific.

In this video, I break down what makes the Ghost Bat so important:
• Why its modular “plug-and-play” design is a logistical dream.
• How it links with Australia’s E-7 Wedgetail to multiply combat mass.
• Its endurance, stealth shaping, and autonomy suite that let it act as a forward scout, decoy, or electronic warfare node.
• Why it’s cheap enough to be expendable but smart enough to tip the scales against China’s sheer numbers.

With a 3,700 km range, Ghost Bat extends Australia’s reach deep into contested Pacific waters. Beijing now faces a serious dilemma: every radar blip could be an F-35, or just a Ghost Bat waiting to jam, deceive, or strike.
And the best part? Over 200 Australian suppliers are building this drone at home. For the first time in decades, Australia is back in the combat aircraft game, and they’re not just keeping up, they’re leading.

I also compare Ghost Bat with Australia’s other “phantom” weapon, the Ghost Shark submarine, and explain how together, they form an asymmetric “ghost fleet” built to keep China guessing.

This is the future of air combat: cheap, flexible, networked, and Australian-made.


P.S. I don't care for the political view at the end of the video only the topic.

[BMJ]

Boeing, RAAF Demonstrate MQ-28 Teaming with E-7A Wedgetail

WOOMERA, South Australia, June 16, 2025 — In a first of its kind demonstration, Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) have successfully conducted a mission against an airborne target using two in-flight MQ-28 Ghost Bat aircraft and a third digital aircraft, all controlled from an airborne E-7A Wedgetail.

During the mission, a single operator onboard the E-7A took control of the uncrewed MQ-28s emulating the role they play in flying ahead of and protecting crewed assets.

“This trial demonstrates family-of-systems integration, the strength of our open systems architecture, and is a critical first step towards integrating mission partners’ software and communications systems natively into the E-7A Wedgetail,” said Glen Ferguson, director MQ-28 Global Programs.

“It not only validated a key element of the MQ-28 concept of operations, but also how collaborative combat aircraft can expand and enhance the role of the E-7A to meet future force requirements.

“It is another tangible proof point of the maturity of our program.”

Australian Minister for Defence Industry The Honourable Pat Conroy MP acknowledged the milestone saying, “The Ghost Bat has the potential to turn a single fighter jet into a fighting team, with advanced sensors that are like hundreds of eyes in the sky.”

Link: https://www.boeing.com.au/news/2025/...aming-with-e7a

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=DqFP8O4jD40

[BMJ]

MQ-28 Ghost Bat To Fire AIM-120 Missile In First Live Weapons Test Next Month

Boeing says its MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone is on track for its first live-fire weapons shot, which will be of an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), next month (December 2025). The company says the MQ-28’s development is otherwise now “hitting its stride,” amid talk of new customers, possibly including the U.S. Navy and Poland. Boeing’s Australian subsidiary first began development of the Ghost Bat for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which has already conducted extensive flight testing with its fleet of eight prototypes.

Steve Parker, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space, and Security, provided a general update on the MQ-28 program at a media roundtable ahead of the 2025 Dubai Airshow in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), at which TWZ was in attendance. Boeing officials had said on various occasions earlier this year that the AMRAAM shot could come in late 2025 or early 2026.

Link: https://www.twz.com/air/mq-28-ghost-...est-next-month



MQ-28 Ghost Bat Is Of “Strong Interest” To The U.S. Navy

The U.S. Navy is touting the U.S.-Australian MQ-28 Ghost Bat ‘loyal wingman’ type drone program as a model for future industrial partnerships, while confirming continued U.S. military interest in the drone. The fact that the Navy is now speaking about this is notable, on the one hand because the MQ-28 has so far been seen primarily as a program of interest for the U.S. Air Force, and on the other because the Navy is currently still working to define its carrier-based Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) plans.

Asked by TWZ about what the Navy is seeking to get from the MQ-28 and its wider goal for the platform, Capt. Ron Flanders, public affairs officer at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development & Acquisition (RDA), said:

“The partnership between the United States and Australia on the MQ-28 represents a new model of joint development, where allied nations co-design and co-produce high-end military capabilities. The U.S. has expressed strong interest in leveraging the MQ-28’s AI-driven autonomy and modular design for future air combat operations.”

The joint development of high-technology military hardware, as referenced in the first part of this response, is not restricted to the MQ-28, of course, and there are already other big-ticket programs involving U.S. and Australian collaboration.

The second part of the answer is somewhat more intriguing since it does suggest the Navy may well also be looking seriously at how it might leverage the MQ-28 — and related technologies.

Link: https://www.twz.com/air/mq-28-ghost-...st-to-u-s-navy

[BMJ]

Australian-Made Military Drones, Ghost Bat MQ-18A Move Into Production Phase | 10 News

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IgOQM4-Wgn4

10 News
Dec 9, 2025
Boeing Australia working together with the Royal Australian Air Force have conducted the first ever firing of a missile from the MQ-28A Ghost Bat.

Exercise Trial Kareela 25-4 was a demonstration of a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) employing an air-to-air weapon against an aerial target in an operationally relevant scenario.

Taking place at RAAF Base Woomera in South Australia from 17 November to 12 December 2025, the MQ-28A teamed with an E-7A Wedgetail as a loyal wingman, supported by an F/A-18F Super Hornet.

On 8 December 2025 the MQ-28A successfully engaged and destroyed a target drone with a live AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, demonstrating one of the first weapons engagements from a Collaborative Combat Aircraft.



Billion dollar injection to get Ghost Bat drones ready for war

Quote:
" On Tuesday the Albanese government is expected to unveil additional funding and contracts to acquire a further six MQ-28A aircraft from Boeing. The drones are designed to accompany traditional manned aircraft into battle.

The West Australian understands the Government will say the delivery of the additional Ghost Bats will lay the foundation for the device to become an operational air combat platform capability within the Royal Australian Air Force...

During a visit to the remote Woomera test range in September to observe the MQ-28, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy described the technology as “the cutting edge of air power” and “the cutting edge of the Australian defence industry”.

“This platform is hitting every major milestone, and I’m pleased to announce today that it has successfully completed all of its scheduled test activities for 2025,” he said.

Already 10 of the aircraft have been built in Block I and II configurations for testing.

More than 130 flights totalling 150 hours have been conducted, along with 20,000 hours of simulated missions used to verify and confirm the Ghost Bat’s flight data."

Link: https://thewest.com.au/politics/fede...war-c-20931613

[BMJ]

Boeing’s Block 3 MQ-28 Ghost Bat to gain weapons bays, longer wings

Breaking Defense
Feb 5, 2026

SINGAPORE — Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) will gain internal weapons bays along with an increased wingspan, the global program director announced during this week’s Singapore Airshow.

Speaking at a media briefing here on Wednesday, Glen Ferguson told reporters that Block 3 aircraft will be able to carry weapons such as the AIM-120 medium range air-to-air missile and the Small Diameter Bomb ( one AIM-120 AMRAAM missile or two GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs, with the possible addition of GBU-53/B StormBreaker glide bombs).

Ferguson was keen to stress, however, that the only constraint on the types of payloads that could be carried in the bays was physical, with the Ghost Bat’s modularity and open architecture meaning that a variety of weapons could be integrated on it as long as it fit the bays.

This modularity and open architecture also mean that the CCA is able to carry different payloads in its nose depending on user or mission requirements, including electronic warfare payloads as well as infra-red search and track systems.

“It’s really up to the customers what they want,” he said.

Boeing is working on “three or four” other sensor payloads, although Ferguson declined to go into further details about these.

Also changing for Block 3 is the aircraft’s wingspan, which will expand from 6 meters to 7.3 meters, or 20 to 24 feet. The increased wingspan will allow the Ghost Bat to carry more fuel, increasing its range, Ferguson said.

Boeing is currently developing the Ghost Bat in Australia for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which has ordered an additional seven aircraft, including the first in Block 3 configuration for delivery in 2028 to develop an operational capability with the type.

He also touched on foreign interest on the Ghost Bat, revealing that there are ongoing conversations with “a lot” of potential customers and highlighting an agreement between Australia and Japan to collaborate on the program during a bilateral defense ministers’ meeting in September 2025.

Ferguson emphasized that the modularity and the flexibility of the CCA’s design will allow foreign users of the aircraft to integrate their own capabilities on the platform.

“They can adopt their own sensors if they wish, and they can apply their own weapons without needing to have to involve us at the levels you might expect on a normal crewed platform.”

That sovereign capability and development is all about partnerships and relationships, and we are looking to share that with other countries as they look to embrace a CCA capability.”

Link: https://breakingdefense.com/2026/02/...-longer-wings/