The MQ-28 Ghost Bat is Now Flying in the U.S. - The Aviationist

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The MQ-28 Ghost Bat takes off from Naval Air Station Ventura County, Point Mugu, California. (Image credit: U.S. Navy photo)

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Boeing confirmed that the MQ-28 Ghost Bat has conducted three flights at the Point Mugu Sea Range after initially flying only in Australia.

Boeing has announced on May 27, 2026, that the MQ-28 Ghost Bat is now flying in the U.S., in what has been defined as the first flights abroad after previously flying only in Australia, where the MQ-28 was developed and built by Boeing Australia. So far, the uncrewed aircraft completed three operational flight tests on the Point Mugu Sea Range at U.S. Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, California.

The goal of the test flights was to validate autonomous operations and demonstrate rapid deployment and sustained operations from an allied location. The company further said that these first operations outside of Australia signal “growing global interest in uncrewed autonomous combat capability,” as well as “demonstrate the aircraft’s maturity and potential export opportunities.”

MQ-28 just went international! 🌏✈️

Three flights from Point Mugu proved rapid allied deployment, autonomous ops and payload integration — paving the way toward exportable uncrewed capability. pic.twitter.com/TpvvLtfnZ0

— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) May 27, 2026

“The activity at Point Mugu is part of Boeing’s ongoing flight test program to mature the MQ-28 and demonstrate operations from allied locations,” Glen Ferguson, MQ-28 global program director said. “MQ-28 is using this location to further prove the maturity of the program and inform future exportability.”

The company did not disclose when these flights were conducted. However, it was already known that at least one MQ-28 was at NAS Ventura County, as the aircraft was clearly visible in a video released after the U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to the installation in December 2025.

.@SECWAR spoke to our warriors at Naval Air Station Point Magu:

He reminded them that WE HAVE THEIR BACKS! pic.twitter.com/SzlklDHbfX

— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) December 6, 2025

It is possible, however, that two aircraft are currently there. In fact, the video from December showed one of the initial MQ-28 airframes, as denoted by the livery with the orange high-visibility stipes.

On the other hand, the aircraft shown in the video of the flight operations from NAS Ventura County appears one of the more recent MQ-28s with the all-gray livery. The aircraft, ATS-008, also features an Infra-Red Search and Track (IRST) sensor on the nose and Boeing’s Phantom Works logo on the tail.

The MQ-28 shown in Boeing’s video following the flights in California. (Image Credit: Boeing)<br>Before the test flights in the U.S., U.S. Navy test pilots were deployed to Australia to work on the aircraft as part of an agreement with Australia. It is unclear if U.S. Navy pilots were also involved in the flights over the Point Mugu Sea Range.

The MQ-28 Ghost Bat – Boeing Airpower Teaming System

Designed by Boeing Defence Australia for the RAAF as a multirole system capable of operating together with crewed aircraft, the Ghost Bat was initially known as the Boeing Airpower Teaming System (ATS). The development started in 2013, with the prototype unveiled for the first time during the 2019 edition of the Australian Airshow and the maiden flight on Feb. 27, 2021, at the Woomera Range Complex in Southern Australia.

The multirole unmanned platform has a 1.5 cubic meter nose that can hold interchangeable payloads for ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance), aerial radar surveillance, EW/ELINT sensors and other attack munitions. The aircraft has been described as a next-generation Loyal Wingman, whose development involved 55 Australian companies and, as of Feb. 2024, had received $600 million in funding.

According to Boeing, the Ghost Bat employs “AI (Artificial Intelligence) to work as a smart team with existing military aircraft to complement and extend airborne missions.” The size of a small, light-weight class fighter, with side air intakes, cranked-kite wings and canted V-tails, the MQ-28 can fly for nearly 3,200 km and “fly independently” with its AI.

An F/A-18F Super Hornet flies in formation with an MQ-28A Ghost Bat during Trial Kareela at RAAF Base Woomera, South Australia. (Image Credit: Australian Defence Force)<br>Renders from Boeing have shown the Ghost Bat flying with support and special mission aircraft like the E-7A Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft and the F-15EX. According to Ferguson, “during a typical mission, a launch and recovery operator […] 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,”...