Warbirds #402 | Ghost Bat makes its public debut

Ghost Bat on show at Farnborough ‘26

One of Australia’s crown jewels of modern aviation innovation, the Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat uncrewed aircraft, made its first public debut at the 2026 Farnborough International Airshow on 20 July 2026. Developed in close collaboration with the Royal Australian Air Force, Ghost Bat is the first military combat aircraft to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia in more than 50 years. Despite being flight-ready and mission-capable, the homegrown aircraft was proudly placed on static display at Farnborough – without a doubt one of the largest and most influential commercial aviation conventions in the world.

​In part, Boeing was using the opportunity to position the Ghost Bat as a leading choice for the UK Ministry of Defence’s future operational collaborative combat aircraft (CCA), despite simultaneous announcements out of the MoD that it has partnered with UK multinational BAE Systems to produce its own uncrewed autonomous CCA. Where Ghost Bat has it beat is that the system has been flying since the first prototype test flight in February 2021, with over 100 test flights and several collaborative military exercises now under its belt.

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