Ghost Bat risks becoming ‘lonely orphan’ as rivals race ahead

Concerns are mounting over the future of Australia’s $1bn Ghost Bat drone program as it approaches the end of its funding.

Boeing Australia’s MQ-28A Ghost Bat aircraft on the runway. Picture: Defence

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Concerns are mounting over the future of Australia’s $1bn Ghost Bat drone program as it ­approaches the end of its funding and defence experts warn it could become an “orphan” capability with limited export potential.

The spotlight has fallen on the Boeing Australia-designed drone after Labor opted against increasing defence spending in Tuesday’s budget or allocating money from within the portfolio to equip the Australian Defence Force with ­lethal unmanned capabilities.

The company says the drone, which is designed to fly with manned fighter jets, is one of the most advanced aircraft of its kind in the world.

Senior defence commanders remain firmly behind the Ghost Bat but it faces stiff competition in the Western arms marketplace from two rivals selected for the US Air Force’s collaborative combat aircraft program – Anduril’s YFQ-44 Fury and General ­Atomics’ YFQ-42A. A full-sized model of the Anduril drone is on display at the Avalon Airshow’s arms fair this week, along with the Ghost Bat and an array of other autonomous systems.

Anduril president and chief strategy officer Christian Brose said the company, co-founded by Elon Musk confidant Palmer Luckey, was racing to develop the capability to meet the US Air Force’s tight timelines.

Anduril’s Fury autonomous fighter jet at the Avalon Airshow. Picture: Getty Images

He said the Fury would have the same underlying operating system as the Ghost Shark autonomous submarine, which Anduril is developing for the Royal Australian Navy, and its family of Barracuda missiles. “What that does is it cuts years off of every development program, because you’re starting with a ­mature software capability that’s solving an enormous number of problems that are going to be common across all those systems,” Mr Brose said.

He said the Ghost Bat had been a trailblazer and Boeing’s absence from the US Air Force’s CCA program did not necessarily doom the aircraft. “I think the value of these autonomous aircraft is that you actually can have some degree of specialisation,” Mr Brose said.

But former Defence Department official Michael Shoebridge said the challenge for the “loyal wingman” style drones was integrating them for use with the F-35 joint strike fighter, which Anduril and General Atomics were being supported to do by the US government. “We’re at risk of operating a lonely orphan that no one else wants to buy,” Mr Shoebridge said.

He said Australia could fund Boeing to integrate the Ghost Bat with the F-35, but it would require “continual one-off investments”.

“Every time a change is made to the F-35 that has an impact on how it works with something like Ghost Bat, we’ll have to do something unique. And it’s not like it’s a one-off bill to get those capabilities to work together. It’s a continuing through-life bill,” Mr Shoebridge said.

The Ghost Bat received $400m from the Albanese government in February 2024 to deliver three new prototype aircraft by the end of this year, after $600m in earlier funding.

The Australian revealed last year that the aircraft was being ­prioritised as an intelligence and surveillance platform, but the company maintains it will be armed in the future.

Three MQ-28A Ghost Bat prototypes. Picture: Defence

Boeing Australia’s Glen Ferguson said the aircraft, which has completed 100 flying hours, ­offered “a critical deterrent ­capability”.

“We are significantly advanced in the program and believe we have one of the most mature collaborative combat aircraft in the world,” he said. “We continue to have discussions with potential collaborative partners.”

Defence said work would continue on the Ghost Bat but declined to say whether it would receive fresh taxpayer funding.

“Continued capability demonstrations for the MQ-28A Ghost Bat are planned for 2025, including integration trials (with) other air force capabilities to demonstrate the platform, payload and system capability,” a Defence ­Department spokeswoman said.

She declined to say whether Australia was considering joining the US CCA program but said technology sharing was “essential” to meet Australia’s defence requirements.