Boeing Australia is building a new production facility to manufacture the MQ-28 Ghost Bat unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) in Australia. This step marks a milestone in Australian aerospace manufacturing. As the Australian Minister for Defense, Richard Marles, the MQ-28 is the first domestically designed, engineered and manufactured military aircraft in over 50 years. 55 Australian companies are involved in the project.
According to GlobalData’s report “The Global Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Market Forecast 2023-2033”, Australia, to counter the growing assertiveness of China China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, Australia will take further such initiatives over the next decade, spending around €4.7 billion on the procurement of various unmanned aerial vehicles. HALE (High-Altitude, Long Endurance) UAVs such as the MQ-28 Ghost Bat are expected to account for up to 51 percent of this sum.
Aamir Chowdry, Aerospace and Defense Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Australia, along with the US, Japan and India, is part of a security alliance called the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). One of the aims of this alliance, as many speculate, is to counter any threats from China in the Indo-Pacific region. The procurement of advanced platforms such as MQ-28 Ghost Bat will certainly give the Australian Armed Forces and its allies an advantage in countering threats and deterring potential conflicts in the region.
Since the Ghost Bat can be piloted by manned aircraft such as the F/A-18F Super Hornet and the EA-18G Growler, it can assume the role of a harbinger by venturing into potentially dangerous conflict zones far ahead of the manned aircraft. This means that manned aircraft can often remain outside enemy zones, which increases the safety of pilots.
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