At least six locally made “Ghost Bat” drones will be added to the Defence Force arsenal in a $1 billion push to accelerate the military’s adoption of autonomous technologies that are transforming modern warfare.

As Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong meet their US colleagues in Washington for annual talks on Tuesday, the Albanese government will announce that the MQ-28A Ghost Bat will move from the prototype stage to become a fully operational war-fighting asset.

A Ghost Bat drone successfully fired an air-to-air missile on an aerial target in previously undisclosed exercises on Monday, paving the way for the announcement, said sources who were not authorised to speak publicly.

The Ghost Bat is the first military combat aircraft to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia in more than 50 years.

Developed by the Air Force and Boeing Australia, the Ghost Bat is packed with advanced sensors and is expected to have a range of more than 3700 kilometres.

Operating without any personnel on board, the drones are designed to act as a loyal wingman to traditional platforms such as the Joint Strike Fighter and Super Hornet, teaming up for operations that would previously have been conducted only by crewed aircraft.

“The Ghost Bat has the potential to turn a single fighter jet into a fighting team, with advanced sensors that are like hundreds of eyes in the sky,” Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said in June.

The government will sign contracts for an initial six Ghost Bats with Boeing Australia, with more expected to follow if the program is successful. Ghost Bats could be exported to other countries, including the US.

The announcement comes after the government revealed in September that it would spend $1.7 billion to buy dozens of underwater Ghost Shark drones for the navy.

A report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute published on Monday welcomed investment in the Ghost Bat and Ghost Shark programs, but warned that they would not create the “drone wall” necessary to protect Australia from potential adversaries.

ASPI senior analyst Malcolm Davis argued that “there’s a need to rapidly acquire a wider range of autonomous capabilities, at lower cost, and in much higher numbers than are currently envisaged for the Ghost Bat or Ghost Shark”.

The government is investing more than $10 billion on drones over the next decade, including more than $4 billion for uncrewed aerial systems such as the Ghost Bat.

The Australia-US Ministerial (AUSMIN) talks in the US capital could see the Trump administration release details about a recently completed Pentagon review into the AUKUS program and push Australia to spend significantly more on defence.

This masthead reported last week that the AUKUS review was watered down after Trump enthusiastically backed the pact.

Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor called for the government to boost Defence spending, telling ABC radio: “I think we are seriously underfunding our Defence Force right now. We are not standing on our own two feet as we need to.”

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