Ghost Bat in new milestone The Australian made and designed autonomous aircraft, MQ-28A Ghost Bat (pictured), has achieved was the federal government has described as a major capability milestone. The first military combat aircraft to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia in more than 50 years conducted a capability demonstration at Woomera, involving “a single…
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…
Australia has clear defence industry priorities including developing a local drone manufacturing sector. Here Dr Peter Layton examines Defence’s recent drone purchases, and asks why then, do we buy overseas made drones and not the best value or most advanced ones at that? In late February the Minister for Defence Industry launched the Defence Industry…
The first prototype Ghost Shark autonomous undersea vessel (pictured) being developed for the Royal Australian Navy has been completed. The name references Boeing’s successful development of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Ghost Bat for the RAAF. Developed in Sydney by US start up Anduril, the company has previously shown a 2.8 tonne ‘Dive-LD’ autonomous submarine,…
Assistant Minister for Defence Matt Thistlethwaite has rejected media criticism quoting military sources that defence urgently needs to add killer drones to its arsenal to give Australian forces a fighting chance on the modern battlefield. Responding on radio Thistlethwaite said: “The Australian Defence Force is investing in new drone technology and I’ve seen that firsthand.…