The Australian government announced it has allocated an additional $399 million for the ongoing development of the MQ-28A Ghost Bat. The MQ-28A Ghost Bat, known as a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), is being developed in cooperation with Boeing Defence Australia. It is the first military combat aircraft to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia in more than 50 years.
An entirely new technology, it is designed to act as a loyal wingman which will be able to protect and support our military assets and pilots and undertake a wide range of activities across large distances, including performing combat roles.
The government is now moving forward with the next stage of the program, including delivery of three Block 2 aircraft which have an enhanced design and improved capabilities. This funding boost will enable a focus on developing sensor and mission payloads, an integrated combat system and autonomous systems.
The additional funding also secures over 350 jobs across Australia and will ensure ongoing work for over 200 suppliers, supporting the local defence industry and further contributing to well-paid employment opportunities for Australians. The further development of MQ-28A Ghost Bat comes after the Government agreed with a Defence Strategic Review recommendation that options be developed for collaboration and technology sharing with the United States. In line with the Government’s response, Defence signed a CCA development project arrangement with the United States on 30 March 2023.
More than 70 percent of the MQ-28A Ghost Bat delivery program is being directed towards Australian industry content, delivering substantial benefits to local companies and their highly skilled workforces.
Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said: “This is the first military aircraft to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia in more than 50 years and underscores the depth of innovation and expertise in our defence industry. More than 200 Australian companies have already contributed to the MQ-28A program, including more than 50 small and medium enterprises within the supply chain. This project demonstrates that with the appropriate support from government, Australia’s defence industry can continue to be a world leader and a key source of jobs. The prosperity and security of our nation and will always be a top priority for the Albanese Government. That’s why giving our Air Force the critical capabilities it needs to protect Australians, and their interests, is paramount.”
Scott Carpendale, Vice President and Managing Director of Boeing Defence Australia, said: “The new MQ-28 Head Agreement continues our partnership with the Commonwealth of Australia, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Australian industry in developing this important Collaborative Combat Aircraft capability for Australia. Since achieving concept development to first flight in three years, we have significantly progressed the design engineering, manufacture and flight testing of MQ-28 Ghost Bat, and are applying those learnings back into our Australian production system to advance the capability. The latest agreement enables us to continue the developmental pathway of MQ-28 to prove the MQ-28 systems, including validating the mission system, payloads and operational requirements, which includes producing three Block 2 aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force.”
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Excellent news. I’m glad the rumours about the program being shelved due to lack of funding and having the development shifted to the USA (with the loss of Australian engineers involvement) appears to be unfounded. Unfortunately the lack of public facing progress on the Ghost Bat, and it’s appearance for “testing” in the USA hasn’t helped the situation. Last time we got a proper update was 2022 when we learned the first prototype made a successful flight demonstrating the landing gear and the a 2nd had just finished taxi tests. Boeing was supposed to spend 2023 testing and designing missions systems but the whole year went by with zero mention except for the DSR.
We’ve now seen 3 different nose variants (“normal”, IRST and a mystery third) so progress is definitely being made but it’s time for some basic updates on the program at the very least.
Unfortunately the chances of the department, the RAAF – and this government – being more open and helpful are close to zero.
“In a surprise change of plans, the MQ-28A Ghost Bat drone will not carry weapons, instead being shifted to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) roles.
A government source this week confirmed to The Australian that plans to make the Ghost Bat a “killer drone” had been shelved after manufacturer Boeing lost out on a US program to make autonomous combat jets.
According to the source cited in The Australian, pivoting the Ghost Bat to ISR will provide fewer hurdles for Defence, as it would not require “rules of engagement” for its weapons and will offer important military capabilities.”
There’s stupid and then there’s the DoD and the ADF who take the stupid to another level.
So we are now going to wait on the US to develop and sell us an autonomous combat jet whilst relegating the one we were in the process of developing to an ISR role.
I’m not sure if the report in The Australian is completely accurate. I’m in the process of trying to check.
Thanks.
One can only hope it is inaccurate as it makes no sense whatsoever.
It would however be in line with the kowtowing to US interests
What was a surprise to me was that the Ghost Bat was designed to be a “Killer Drone”. While always a possibility, the Ghost Bat has had a non-kinetic payload focus from the start. From just a cursory examination of the air frame there simply isn’t enough room to incorporate missiles except for external carriage and doing so would have a devastating effect on the MQ-28’s stealth characteristic’s and flight profile, (missiles are heavy). You would need to make a significantly larger and more expensive UCAV like Baykar’s Bayraktar Kızılelma and in doing so move away from the concept of “affordable mass”. The swappable nose cone is also way to small to house a kinetic weapon system. This doesn’t matter however as the MQ-28 focus was always enabling capabilities like ISR and EW. Things could change with the batch 2 drone under development but I very much doubt it.
Boeing pitched the Ghost Bat in the USAF’s Skyborg program and failed. It’s unfortunate as it could have significantly enhanced the program with extra funding as well licensing benefits but it should have little bearing overall on the RAAF’s development program.
Ghost Bat does have a large-looking internal bay, but there’s no information that I’m aware of about its exact dimensions or carrying capacity.
I read an article by Michael Shoebridge that lays the blame squarely at the feet of the obsession of having every thing integrated with everything else. So because Boeing is no longer a player in the U.S.A.F’s system, it’s no longer financially viable to pursue our own system, which is similar to the ALAR 2002B that couldn’t be integrated into the Hornets because of time constraints .Is this is a symptom of a wider problem ? If so it seems we may have made a rod for our own back.
I agree with your broader point and add that there are various levels of integration. I suspect that Project Peregrine – reduced from 5 aircraft to 4 and now 24 months behind schedule – is another case in point. Regarding ALR 2002, that’s actually one that I know a bit about, for reasons that will have to remain obscure. It was developed by DSTO in the late 1980s using crystal video receiver technology, just as the entire EW world was transitioning to fully digital solutions. If it had been rushed into production it might have played a useful role in the ADF inventory, especially with the F-111s (that was the genesis of the effort), but its development under Project Echidna was a slow moving mess that cost the Australian taxpayer about $1 billion – and the end result being RWRs temporarily fitted to four (4) Black Hawks. It was another unmitigated disaster which of course was swept under the carpet.
This is a very long story that one day I might attempt to describe in full. The RWR on the F-111s had a notoriously high false alarm rate and as a consequence most pilots switched it off after just a few minutes – hardly ideal for combat operations. However, rather than just going to a one-for-one replacement, DSTO and RAAF decided they would develop a common EW suite across multiple platforms – everything from fast jets to helicopters. I don’t want to sound like a smart arse, but even at the time the entire thing seemed – cough – to be extremely ambitious. By the way, I don’t for a moment doubt the sincerity and enthusiasm of everyone involved, it’s just that the project never had an off ramp and the only solution was to keep throwing money at it.
Has there been anything more said about the Peregrines?
Last I heard was some months ago and there was apparently some airframe issues but I’ve seen nothing to back that up or any other information at all
There has been zero information made public about Peregrine / AIR 555. My reporting of a 2 year delay is based on a careful reading of the Defence 2023-2024 budget papers. On the original schedule, the first aircraft was due to enter service in 2023. Hahahaha.
Thank you for the extra Information Kym, Look forward to hearing (reading ) more about it.