An artist’s rendering of a Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail teaming with two MQ-28 Ghost Bat collaborative combat aircraft | Illustration: Boeing
Boeing announced that the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has successfully demonstrated Manned Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) of two of its MQ-28 Ghost Bat uncrewed aircraft with an E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft.
In a statement, Boeing said it ‘successfully conducted a mission against an airborne target’ with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) ‘using two in-flight MQ-28 Ghost Bat aircraft and a third digital aircraft, all controlled from an airborne E-7A Wedgetail.’
Director of MQ-28 Global Programs, Glen Ferguson, said in the statement, “This trial demonstrates family-of-systems integration, the strength of our open systems architecture, and is a critical first step towards integrating mission partners’ software and communications systems natively into the E-7A Wedgetail,” adding, “It not only validated a key element of the MQ-28 concept of operations, but also how collaborative combat aircraft can expand and enhance the role of the E-7A to meet future force requirements.”
With software developed jointly by Boeing Defence Australia, Defence Science and Technology Group and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories, the company said ‘a single operator onboard the E-7A took control of the uncrewed MQ-28s emulating the role they play in flying ahead of and protecting crewed assets’ during the mission.
These MQ-28 trials are ‘part of a series of events with RAAF assets throughout this year, collectively known as Capability Demonstration 2025 (CD25),’ which will ‘demonstrate MQ-28 operational effectiveness and how collaborative combat aircraft will integrate and operate with RAAF crewed assets,’ and ‘future events will involve teaming with other assets, including F/A-18F and F-35’ fighter aircraft.
Discover more from StratPost
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
