What is the Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat autonomous aircraft?

The Boeing MQ-28A Ghost Bat is a jet-powered, uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft developed in Australia by Boeing Defence Australia with the Royal Australian Air Force. It is designed to team with crewed aircraft, using onboard autonomy and interchangeable mission payloads for surveillance, sensing, electronic warfare and other combat-support tasks under human command.

In our Aviation & Real-World Flying coverage, we classify it as an autonomous military aircraft rather than a conventional remotely piloted drone. There is no pilot aboard, but autonomous does not mean free to choose its own strategic objectives or operate outside human authorisation.

What does the MQ-28 Ghost Bat do?

The MQ-28 is intended to extend the reach and awareness of crewed combat aircraft while placing no additional aircrew inside the uncrewed platform. A commander assigns the mission and constraints; the aircraft's onboard systems handle much of the flying, navigation and co-ordination needed to execute that assignment.

Publicly described or proposed mission areas include:

• Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance: carrying sensors forward to collect information without exposing another crewed aircraft.
• Tactical early warning: detecting and sharing information about threats or activity ahead of the main formation.
• Electronic warfare: supporting electronic sensing, jamming or related mission functions when fitted with the appropriate package.
• Communications and sensor support: helping connect aircraft or adding another sensor position to a distributed formation.
• Risk-bearing missions: entering airspace where sending another pilot would present greater danger.
• Collaborative operations: working alongside crewed fighters, command-and-control aircraft or other uncrewed systems.

Its defining hardware feature is a reconfigurable nose intended to accept different mission payloads. That does not mean every proposed sensor or electronic-warfare package has been fielded. Public programme descriptions often mix demonstrated functions with planned capability, so those categories should not be treated as a confirmed equipment list.

The term Loyal Wingman can also be misleading. The MQ-28 is not necessarily tied permanently to one fighter or expected to copy every fighter manoeuvre; it is a mission asset intended to co-operate with a wider force.

Is the MQ-28 a drone, and how autonomous is it?

The MQ-28 can be called a drone in everyday language, but collaborative combat aircraft is the more precise description because it is designed around mission-level autonomy and aircraft teaming. It is not simply hand-flown by a remote pilot for every turn, climb and formation correction.

Human operators provide objectives, boundaries and authorisation. Onboard software can then manage functions such as flight control, route following, navigation and co-ordination with other aircraft within the approved mission plan.

Autonomy is not independent command authority. It does not prove that the aircraft can select strategic objectives, change rules of engagement or release weapons without human approval. Nor are the words autonomous, automatic and artificial intelligence interchangeable.

The detailed autonomy architecture, datalinks, sensor-fusion software and lost-link procedures are not public. Claims that the Ghost Bat can continue every type of combat mission without communications or supervision therefore go beyond the available evidence.

What engine powers the MQ-28 Ghost Bat?

The flying demonstrators are widely reported to use a single Williams International FJ44-1A turbofan. Boeing's high-level public specifications are less specific and generally describe only a commercial jet engine, so the exact engine fit should not automatically be applied to every prototype or later production block.

The reported FJ44 is a compact, non-afterburning commercial turbofan rather than a large fighter engine. That fits an aircraft designed around useful range, manageable operating cost and uncrewed mission payloads, but it does not reveal the MQ-28's maximum speed or acceleration.

A mistake we see in specification summaries is calculating performance directly from an engine's quoted thrust. Aircraft mass, inlet losses, drag, control limits, payload and fuel profile all matter, and reliable public figures for the Ghost Bat's maximum speed and ceiling have not been released.

Key MQ-28 specifications

Published figures establish the MQ-28's approximate size and range, while many tactically significant details remain undisclosed.

The published range is not the same as combat radius. A usable radius depends on fuel reserves, altitude, route, payload, time on task, diversion requirements and whether the aircraft must return to its departure airfield.

The MQ-28 has runway landing gear and is intended to return for reuse. It should not be confused with a cruise missile or described casually as disposable simply because it may be sent into higher-risk airspace.

What are all the names used for the MQ-28 Ghost Bat?

Loyal Wingman, Boeing Airpower Teaming System and MQ-28A Ghost Bat refer to stages or contexts of the same aircraft programme rather than three unrelated designs.

• Loyal Wingman: the original Australian development-programme and demonstrator name.
• Boeing Airpower Teaming System: Boeing's broader product terminology, particularly in early and international material.
• MQ-28A Ghost Bat: the Royal Australian Air Force designation and name announced in 2022.
• MQ-28 or Ghost Bat: common shortened forms of MQ-28A Ghost Bat.
• Collaborative combat aircraft: a description of its category and role, not another formal model name.

The designation broadly follows military aircraft naming conventions: M indicates a multi-mission role, Q identifies an uncrewed aircraft, 28 is the model number and A identifies the initial series. The Ghost Bat name references an Australian bat associated with detecting and hunting prey co-operatively.

Despite Boeing being an American parent company, the Ghost Bat is an Australian-led development involving Boeing Defence Australia, the RAAF and Australian industry. Boeing and the Australian government describe it as the first military combat aircraft designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia in more than 50 years. It sits within Boeing's wider crewed and uncrewed military aircraft range.

Is the MQ-28 Ghost Bat armed and operational?

No publicly confirmed standard weapons fit has been disclosed, and the existence of flying aircraft does not by itself establish front-line operational capability. The Ghost Bat can contribute directly to combat through sensing, electronic warfare, communications and decoy tasks without carrying a weapon.

Its interchangeable nose should not be mistaken automatically for an internal weapons bay. Future configurations may gain additional combat functions, but a certified weapon list, carriage arrangement and release authority would need separate confirmation.

The RAAF's publicly documented MQ-28 activity has centred on development, flight testing, production examples and capability maturation rather than a declared operational combat squadron. Orders and prototype deliveries are significant milestones, but operational capability also requires an accepted configuration, trained personnel, support arrangements, mission software and formal service approval.

Can the MQ-28 be flown in a flight simulator?

Any public MQ-28 flight-simulator model is necessarily an approximation because its true flight-control laws, sensor systems, electronic-warfare functions, datalinks and detailed performance remain restricted or undisclosed. A conventional virtual cockpit would also be fictional because the real aircraft has no cockpit.

A visual model can still be useful for formation scenarios or representing the aircraft as AI traffic. The common mistake is treating an accurate external shape as evidence that the autonomy, engine performance and mission systems are equally accurate.

When assessing an add-on, check:

• Simulator and generation: packages for FSX, X-Plane, MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024 are not automatically interchangeable.
• Platform: instructions referring to the Community folder normally describe a PC installation. A loose PC archive cannot be manually installed on Xbox or PlayStation.
• Flight model: look for a clear explanation of whether the developer created bespoke handling or reused another aircraft's configuration.
• Autonomy claims: a pilotable model does not reproduce collaborative mission logic merely because it can fly beside AI traffic.
• Published limits: precise speed, ceiling, payload and radar claims should be treated cautiously when the real values are not public.

Our MSFS aircraft and add-on library is the appropriate place to check for compatible packages without assuming that a dedicated Ghost Bat model exists for every edition. Before installing any freeware package, follow our practical checks for safe MSFS add-ons, including simulator compatibility, archive contents and installation method.