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Boeing’s MQ-28 is informing both the Australian and American paths ahead with uncrewed combat aircraft.
The U.S. Navy is Down Under operating Boeing Australia’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat alongside the Royal Australian Air Force while the American service is in the early days of determining the path ahead for its own Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
- The Navy lags the other U.S. services in early CCA plans
- The service would like 60% of its carrier air wing to be uncrewed
A contingent of personnel from the Navy’s Air Test and Evaluation Sqdn. Two Four (UX-24) has been deployed to train on and fly the uncrewed aircraft developed and produced in Australia. The deployment is based on a March 30, 2023, project arrangement between the U.S. and Australia to collaborate, research and develop “interchangeable and interoperable [Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA)] concepts and technologies to maximize mission effectiveness in highly contested environments,” UX-24 Commanding Officer Cmdr. Tyler Hurst said in a statement.
The Navy is in the early stages of its CCA program, undertaking an analysis of its way forward. The U.S. Air Force has charged ahead by awarding contracts to Anduril Industries and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. for its first increment of the loyal wingman uncrewed systems. Meanwhile, the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) is in a “study phase” of its CCA plans. The Air Force and Marine Corps jointly operate USMC-owned Kratos XQ-58A Valkyries to evaluate autonomy.
While the MQ-28 is helping the Navy in its early understanding of how to use CCA, the arrangement is not limited to Boeing’s Ghost Bat, and it should not be “viewed as a presupposed solution for CCA,” Hurst says.
“The U.S. Navy is contracting with industry to refine requirements and develop key Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) technologies in order to provide warfighting superiority,” he says.
The Ghost Bat, previously known as the Airpower Teaming System, is the first military aircraft to be designed, manufactured and flown in Australia in more than 50 years, the company says. The system first flew in February 2021. The Royal Australian Air Force has ordered 10 MQ-28s in its first Block 1 configuration, with three upgraded Block 2 models ordered in February 2024.
Boeing will begin construction this year on its first final assembly facility outside of North America in a commitment to further production of the MQ-28 beyond the 13 on order.
The Pentagon has expressed interest in using the MQ-28, particularly under leadership from Heidi Shyu, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. A Ghost Bat made its first U.S. appearance for testing in May 2023, two months after the agreement with Australia.
While the Navy is in its early stages of CCA planning, it expects to have a majority of its future carrier air wing uncrewed. Under the 2022 Navigation Plan released by former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday, the air wing is intended to be 60% uncrewed by 2045, with CCA flying alongside Lockheed Martin F-35Cs and the future F/A-XX.
Boeing’s MQ-25 Stingray uncrewed refueling tanker is the pathfinder for this work. While the initial role will be taking the carrier-based tanking mission from Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets and limited intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the Navy’s big bet is on the MQ-25’s control station. That system, the Lockheed Martin MD-5E ground control station (GCS), will first handle the MQ-25 but is expected to be the GCS for future CCA.
The Navy announced in August that it had installed the first of the systems on the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) ahead of sea trials early next year.
Boeing also unveiled an armed version of the MQ-25 in April as a potential offer for the Navy. That month, the Navy outlined early targets for its CCA fleet—looking for a $15 million cost target, about half that of the Air Force. The service expects to buy multiple aircraft in small production batches of about 50-60 each, Rear Adm. Stephen Tedford, the program executive officer for unmanned and strike weapons at Naval Air Systems Command, said at the time.
To ease development, the three services have agreed to a common baseline for CCA command and control, communications, autonomy and mission system standards.
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