Boeing and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) have successfully conducted a first-ever demonstration of multi-aircraft control in-flight, using two MQ-28 Ghost Bat aircraft and one virtual aircraft managed remotely from an airborne E-7A Wedgetail.
A single mission operator on the Wedgetail controlled the MQ-28s, demonstrating their capability to support and protect crewed aircraft by operating ahead of them in the battlespace.
The enabling software was a collaborative effort between Boeing Defence Australia, the Defence Science and Technology Group, and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories.
The mission is part of Capability Demonstration 2025 (CD25), a year-long series of exercises aimed at validating the MQ-28’s operational utility and its teamwork with RAAF’s crewed platforms. Future exercises will incorporate F/A-18F Super Hornets and F-35s in combined missions.
