The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has trained its first pilot to fly the Boeing MQ-28A Ghost Bat Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).
Wing Commander Phil Parsons, a senior officer in the RAAF, has become the first non-Boeing pilot to participate in the MQ-28A flight test program.
Parsons, who completed his training on June 13, 2024, has been appointed to oversee the launch and recovery of the MQ-28A and monitor the aircraft in-flight. Additionally, he will maintain the aircraft during takeoff and landing.
Previously Parsons commanded Task Force Heron, an Australian Defense Force contingent. In 2014, Parsons received an award for achieving 25,000 flight hours with unmanned aerial vehicles in Afghanistan.
“During a typical mission, a launch and recovery operator like Wing Commander Parsons would oversee the aircraft as it takes flight,” Glen Ferguson, Boeing Defense Australia’s MQ-28A Program Director, told Australian Defense Magazine.
Ferguson added that the Ghost Bat would 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.”
The Ghost Bat is an unmanned military air vehicle equipped with autonomous and artificial intelligence systems. The aircraft is designed to act as a so-called ‘loyal wingman’, assisting military assets and pilots in air combat command missions.
Currently the MQ-28 Ghost Bat continues to be manufactured at Boeing’s Fishermans Bend facility in Victoria, according to the company website. The MQ-28 Ghost Bat successfully completed its maiden flight in February 2021.