Avalon 2025: Australia reimagines Ghost Bat as a proving platform and targets future versions

Boeing Defence Australia unveiled what was then referred to as the Loyal Wingman large stealthy uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) at the Australian International Airshow in Avalon near Melbourne six years ago. It occurred amid much fanfare and the trumpeting that it would be the first Australian designed military aircraft in more than six decades.

The original idea outlined for the UAV was as a multirole platform which could conceivably act as an escort or attack aircraft and while the US side of Boeing continues to look at it in this role, on the opposite side of the Pacific it is being considered differently.

The Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF’s) AVM Nicholas Hogan, who was appointed head of air force capability in December, said the MQ-28 is no longer seen as the UAV of the future by the force but as a vital development and proving platform.

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Hogan, speaking at the Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems’ SkyTech 2025 conference, which is occurring in tandem with this week’s Australian International Airshow, said the MQ-28 was now “proving concepts for us as we go forward”.

“The concepts that we really want to get out of MQ-28 is an understanding of the autonomy, an understanding of the reference architecture and how we apply that more broadly as we go forward,” he said. “[What is] important to understand is that MQ-28 isn’t a longer-term solution as an air vehicle itself and it really was a test of ambitions.

“I’ll be completely open, it wasn't exactly a harmonious relationship [between the force and industry] to get to where we are now. However, [the platform] is tried and it’s tested, and it’s in a good place. I think we suffered early in the MQ-28 game because we did not have a good set of defined requirements and because we weren’t quite sure we knew what we were after.”

As the force is looking at how it will develop towards a new structure in 2040, Hogan notes that such a move will be challenging but the MQ-28’s descendants may form part of that structure, referring to the “grandchild of Ghost Bat or the grandchild of the grandchild”.

All of which is occurring in the shadow of a national budget dropping in the next two days and choppy financial waters as national spending may be about to dip further into the red for an unknown period of time.

This may eventually lead to belt tightening after a substantial investment in platforms in the past decade and the looming hundreds-of-billions of dollars bill for a planned new submarine fleet and through-life costs.

To add even more turbulence to the path ahead, a national election looms with the potential for a change of government or a change in the direction of government.

Related Programmes in Defence Insight

Project Air 6000 Phase 7 [Australia]

MQ-28 Ghost Bat [Australia]

Related Equipment in Defence Insight

MQ-28A Ghost Bat