The Australian government has green-lit a third tranche of the Australian-designed and -built MQ-28 Ghost Bat Collaborative Combat Aircraft from Boeing. The AUS $754 million (US$500.6 million) deal will include several design modifications, notably an internal weapons bay, signaling a strategic step in the country’s evolving air capabilities.
An Appealing New Tranche: Details and Innovations
This new order will see seven additional drones delivered over the next three years – six in the Block 2 configuration and the first Block 3 aircraft. The goal is to support the development of a full operational capability by 2028, along with supporting infrastructure, under Australia’s AIR6015 Autonomous Collaborative Platforms – Air program. Australia has previously ordered eight Block 1 and three Block 2 Ghost Bats, meaning that upon completion of this tranche’s delivery, the „Lucky Country” will possess an impressive total of 18 MQ-28s. Pat Conroy, the country’s Minister for Defence Industry, called the MQ-28 a world-leading platform and the future of air warfare during a media conference announcing the contract. “The future is here and the future is right now in Australia with Aussie made world-leading capabilities like the Ghost Bat,” Conroy stated.
Advanced Operational Capability: The Decisive Woomera Test
A significant milestone was revealed by Minister Conroy himself: the MQ-28 successfully engaged and shot down an aerial target at the Woomera range complex in southern Australia. This important event validates the drone’s advanced operational capabilities and marks a crucial threshold in its development.
Aerial Synergy: The MQ-28 Teaming with the E-7 and F/A-18F
Glen Ferguson, Boeing’s MQ-28 Global Program Director, provided further details on the test. The air-to-air engagement saw the MQ-28 working in tandem with a Boeing E-7 Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft and an F/A-18F Super Hornet multirole fighter of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) to engage the aerial target with an AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air missile. Remarkably, the development of the air-to-air capability for the MQ-28 took just over eight months, from the initial decision at the Avalon Airshow in March to the actual missile firing.
Autonomous Intelligence: Minimizing Human Intervention
The MQ-28 was flown semi-autonomously during the engagement. Colin Miller, Vice President and General Manager of Boeing Phantom Works, emphasized that the operator issued only four major commands during the flight: having the drone take off, conduct a combat air patrol, commit to an intercept on the target, and clearing it to arm and fire on the target. A Boeing news release clarified that all three aircraft involved launched from separate locations for the test. An operator on board the E-7 took custodianship of the MQ-28, ensuring safety and engagement oversight, with the crew from the Super Hornet then teaming with the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) in combat formation to provide sensor coverage. Targeting data was shared across all three platforms after the Super Hornet identified and tracked the target, following which the MQ-28 adjusted its position and received authorization from the E-7A to engage and successfully destroy the target.
Cutting-Edge Technology, Strategic Impact
Ferguson did not disclose the exact type of target or the engagement range, although he described it as a “fighter representative target” engaged at an “operationally representative range.” He added that the MQ-28 provided mid-course guidance of the missile during the engagement, using an unspecified onboard electronic warfare sensor that was “effectively an AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array radar) specifically designed for a bunch of specialized functions.” Ferguson declined to elaborate further on that system. The engagement saw the E-7 operating somewhere between 100 to 200 miles behind the MQ-28, and while the Super Hornet flew alongside the CCA during the event, it could operate at much further distances away during real-world operations, Ferguson noted, highlighting the new platform’s strategic flexibility.
