Boeing Offers MQ-28 Ghost Bat to Japan for Coastal Defence

Boeing is set to propose its MQ-28 Ghost Bat unmanned aircraft to Japan's Ministry of Defence as part of Tokyo's coastal-defence concept built around unmanned systems. The development comes after earlier work with Boeing on manned-unmanned teaming simulations, positioning the aircraft in a growing competition involving US, European and Japanese defence contractors.

The MQ-28 Ghost Bat was developed by Boeing Australia in collaboration with the Royal Australian Air Force and is designed to operate autonomously or alongside crewed fighters. It extends a piloted aircraft's reach by sharing sensor data over a network while reducing the exposure of an additional pilot.

Boeing has built early-production aircraft and is developing larger Block 3 variants with an internal weapons bay and longer range. The Japan pitch follows earlier Japanese work with Boeing on manned-unmanned teaming simulations, positioning the aircraft in a growing competition involving US, European and Japanese defence contractors.