Boeing completes MQ-28 capability demonstrations

The Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) is scheduled to begin air-to-air weapons trials in 2025–26. (Boeing)

Boeing and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) have announced the completion of demonstrations assessing the operational capabilities of the MQ-28 Ghost Bat Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).

The RAAF required the MQ-28 to conduct a “series of operationally relevant missions designed to supplement and enhance capabilities of existing crewed platforms”, Boeing said in a statement on 5 September.

The trials were conducted under the Capability Demonstration 2025 programme. The resulting tests validated five operational requirements and were completed four months ahead of schedule, Boeing added.

According to the company, the requirements included the demonstration of the platform's autonomous behaviours and “mission execution” capabilities, “multiship operations to provide combat mass”, deployment to a remote airbase to test the aircraft's ability to operate in unfamiliar environment, and teaming with a Boeing E-7 Wedgetail while achieving “data fusion with multiple MQ-28 aircraft, and [the] transmission of that data to a [manned] platform”.

At a press conference at Woomera on 5 September, Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said the demonstration included “a [single] operator in an E-7 Wedgetail controlling two” MQ-28 aircraft simultaneously and sending them “on their missions”.

The trials aimed to assess the planned ability of the MQ-28 to complement the first four steps in the ‘air combat chain' (find, fix, track, and target elements) with autonomous behaviours, reducing the risk to manned platforms, according to Boeing.