Overview
- Boeing confirmed on Thursday, July 2, that a production‑representative MQ-28 Ghost Bat flew with U.S. Pacific Command and allied units during Exercise Valiant Shield in the Western Pacific.
- During the June exercise the uncrewed aircraft operated alongside F-35s, F-15EX and other crewed platforms while forces refined tactics, techniques and procedures around the Marianas Island Range Complex.
- Boeing and its Australian unit say the MQ-28 is combat capable, uses open mission systems to accept sovereign payloads, and is designed to team with fourth‑, fifth‑ and sixth‑generation aircraft for multinational use and export.
- Key questions remain unresolved because most performance claims come from Boeing: independent verification of radar cross section, weapons performance and formal U.S. service procurement have not been publicly disclosed.
- The Ghost Bat’s exercise role will feed U.S. and allied CCA planning even as the Air Force funds other CCA vendors and moves toward larger buys and sustainment concepts that could change how coalition air forces operate and maintain uncrewed wingmen.