A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) officer has become the first non-Boeing pilot to fly the Boeing MQ-28A Ghost Bat unmanned air vehicle.
RAAF Wing Commander Phil Parsons completed the training on 13 June, according to Boeing.
The programme director for the MQ-28 at Boeing Australia, Glen Furguson, says launch and recovery operators such as Parsons will oversee the aircraft’s take-off, before handing it off to a crewed aircraft such as Boeing E-7A airborne early warning and control aircraft, or fighters such as the Boeing F/A-18E/F and Lockheed Martin F-35A.
Following the mission, control of the aircraft will return to the launch and recovery operator, who will oversee the landing.
Furguson adds that the aircraft is designed to fly with an “operator-in-the-loop”. In other words, an operator is tasked with making key decisions.
Boeing adds that its work on the MQ-28A – the first military aircraft designed in Australia since the Second World War – is moving ahead quickly. The focus has moved from flying and handling to capabilities such as teaming, mission systems, sensors, and testing.
In March, Boeing said that it had started construction of a facility in Australia’s Queensland state to produce the MQ-28, although no order for operational examples has been announced.
The previous month, Australia’s Department of Defence told FlightGlobal that eight examples of the aircraft have been delivered so far. Also in February, Canberra provided funding for three additional MQ-28 Block 2 aircraft.
