First RAAF pilot trains on Ghost Bat UAS

Boeing’s MQ-28A Ghost Bat programme has achieved another milestone with the first Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) pilot taking the controls of the unmanned aircraft.

Experienced remote systems pilot WGCDR Phil Parsons (pictured) completed Boeing’s training on June 13, becoming the first non-Boeing pilot on the programme.

As a launch and recovery operator, Parsons would oversee launch and recovery of the aircraft, which involves ground preparation, take-off and landing operations.

Boeing Defence Australia MQ-28 programme director Glen Ferguson said: “MQ-28A is designed to team with piloted aircraft through an ‘operator-in-the-loop’ approach

“During a typical mission, a launch and recovery operator like Wing Commander Parsons would oversee the aircraft as it takes flight.

“It would then be handed off to a crewed aircraft, such as an E-7A, F-35A or F/A-18F, whose crew tasks it to perform, for example, an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission.

“On completion of the mission, the aircraft would be handed back to the launch and recovery operator to oversee landing, deceleration and complete stop of the vehicle.”

Parsons’ training included observing and monitoring the aircraft as it executed commands to climb and descend, accelerate and decelerate, or navigate to a specific waypoint to achieve test points as part of the current advanced testing programme.

Parsons said: “The MQ-28A, while similar in many aspects of operation to other remotely piloted systems, is embracing technological advancements in how a launch and recovery operator interacts with the aircraft.”

The focus of Boeing’s MQ-28A co-development with the RAAF is shifting from testing the aircraft’s flying and handling qualities to capability advancement including progressing teaming behaviours, mission systems, sensors and payload testing.

Picture: Boeing/WGCDR Phil Parsons undertaking launch and recovery operations