Boeing Australia MQ-28 Ghost Bat
At the time of this writing, the Ghost Bat is not used by the U.S. Military. It is included in the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 2, because its MQ-28A designation is an official U.S. DOD MDS designator - see Designation Note below for further information.
The Ghost Bat is a multirole UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) developed by Boeing Australia. It was first revealed as a mockup in 2019, and at that time known as the Boeing Airpower Teaming System (ATS). The system was developed for the Royal Australian Air Force's "Loyal Wingman Advanced Development Program". The term "Loyal Wingman" was used to describe an unmanned aircraft designed to work as a capability extension for manned combat aircraft. The prototype was rolled out in May 2020, and first flown on 27 February 2021. Soon after the first flight, the RAAF announced that it had designated the ATS as the MQ-28A Ghost Bat.
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| Photo: Boeing |
| MQ-28A |
The Ghost Bat has an airframe with low-observable characteristics, which also uses radar-absorbent material and paint. It is powered by a single Williams FJ33 turbofan, for a maximum speed in the high subsonic range. The drone has a modular payload section in the nose, allowing for a wide range of missions. This supposedly includes armed combat missions, but no information about weapon payload options is available. The control software is AI-enhanced to give the MQ-28A a high level of autonomy. The RAAF has announced that it will initially focus on an ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) role for the Ghost Bat, with strike missions being an option for further development. By the end of 2024, eight MQ-28A vehicles had been delivered to the RAAF. The next three on order will be built to an improved "Block 2" standard, which features a redesigned wing, has a new GPS system, and upgrades to sensors, combat system and autonomous system.
In late 2022, it was announced that the USAF might acquire a single Ghost Bat system for UCAV/CCA related testing, but it is unclear if this acquisition actually came forward.
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| Photo: Australian Department of Defense |
| MQ-28A |
Designation Note: The Ghost Bat is an Australian product, developed by Boeing Australia for the RAAF, without any involvement of the U.S. DOD or military. The MQ-28A designation was chosen by the RAAF. It's not without precedent, that the RAAF uses MDS-style designations for aircraft not used by the U.S. military (e.g. KC-30A and E-7A), but these designations had never been requested as, let alone approved as, official U.S. DOD MDS designations. For reasons which are unclear, this time Boeing and/or the RAAF managed to have MQ-28A added to the U.S. DOD's official MDS list. On top of that, the slot Q-28 was reused, again for unknown reasons. The most likely explanation for the reuse might be a simple human error. At that time, RQ-28A had already been allocated to a small quadcopter drone, but this designation was more or less unknown to the public. So Boeing/RAAF might have assumed that MQ-27A was the last in line for Q-series designations at that time (2022), and submitted MQ-28A for approval. And nowadays, the USAF office responsible for managing the MDS system is very lenient regarding the regulations. Maybe they only verified that MQ-28A (other than RQ-28A) had not been used before, and then approved it.
Specifications
Note: Data given by several sources show slight variations. Figures given below may therefore be inaccurate!
Data for MQ-28A:
| Length | 11.7 m (38 ft 5 in) |
| Wingspan | 7.3 m (23 ft 11 in) |
| Height | ? |
| Weight | ? |
| Speed | ? (high subsonic) |
| Ceiling | ? |
| Range | 3700 km (2000 nm) |
| Endurance | ? |
| Propulsion | 1 Williams FJ33 turbofan |
Main Sources
[1] Boeing Australia Website: MQ-28 Ghost Bat
[2] Boeing Website: MQ-28
[3] Defense News, Valerie Insinna:
Boeing rolls out Australia's
first "Loyal Wingman" combat drone, May 2020
[4] The War Zone, Joseph Trevithick:
Air Force Acquires Australia's
MQ-28 Ghost Bat Drone For Testing, October 2022
[5] The War Zone, Joseph Trevithick:
Boeing's MQ-28 Ghost Bat
Getting Facility To Ramp-Up Production In Australia, March 2024
[6] Defence Connect, Robert Dougherty:
Australia still
interested in MQ-28A Ghost Bat strike capability, says Conroy, August 2024
[7] Audtralian Aviation, Robert Dougherty:
3 second-generation Ghost Bats due next year,
October 2024
Back to Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 2
Last Updated: 10 February 2025