Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat joins US-led drill in Indo-Pacific, testing coalition ‘human-machine teaming’

Boeing said its MQ-28 Ghost Bat participated in Exercise Valiant Shield 2026 over the Philippine Sea, flying alongside US Air Force and allied platforms as part of a major, multinational training event focused on joint operations in air, maritime, land, and cyber domains. The company framed the moment as a step toward “human-machine teaming,” the concept of pairing crewed aircraft with autonomous or semi-autonomous systems to extend reach and awareness in combat-relevant scenarios.

At Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii on July 7, Boeing’s release said the MQ-28 joined Valiant Shield alongside aircraft including F-35A, F-35B, F-15EX Eagle II, HC-130, E-3, E-2D, EA-18G, and RC-135, as well as other joint and coalition assets. Boeing called the exercise participation a first for a collaborative combat aircraft, describing MQ-28 as the first and only such aircraft deployed to the event’s multinational, joint operational training.

Boeing also linked the exercise role to the US Air Force Experimental Operations Unit’s objectives for collaborative combat aircraft (CCAs), which are uncrewed or optionally crewed systems designed to integrate with traditional fighter forces rather than operate as standalone platforms. During Valiant Shield, Boeing said the aircraft worked through tactics, techniques, and procedures with crewed systems while units trained around the Marianas Island Range Complex in the Western Pacific.

Boeing said the program is being built using open mission systems and government reference architectures, which it describes as a way for defense forces to rapidly integrate their own sovereign payloads and mission requirements. The company said the MQ-28 is intended to team with fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation aircraft to enhance the broader fleet’s capabilities, rather than replace crewed aircraft.

Steve Parker, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said the participation was “a first” and “just the start” of demonstrating how advanced human-machine teaming can extend the reach and awareness of crewed platforms and strengthen joint operations. Boeing also quoted Amy List, vice president and managing director of Boeing Defence Australia, saying the MQ-28 is among the “most proven, mature” CCAs in allied nations and that the exercise highlights readiness to bring the Australian-developed capability to global air forces.

Boeing Defence Australia has positioned the Ghost Bat as an Australia-developed CCA that can integrate with US and allied forces for coalition testing. That framing is echoed in Pacific Air Forces messaging ahead of the exercise, which described the MQ-28 Ghost Bat as a production representative test aircraft set to integrate with US and allied forces during Valiant Shield.

Independent reporting around the drill added operational detail. FlightGlobal said the MQ-28 spent roughly 10 days operating from a base in the Northern Mariana Islands during Valiant Shield and flew side-by-side with a US Air Force F-15EX. FlightGlobal also reported that the MQ-28 sortie took place over the Philippine Sea, citing statements from US Pacific Air Forces that it demonstrated the future of human-machine teaming in theater.

In terms of how this fits into the broader Defense sector, the exercise comes as the US Air Force and partners continue working through ways to make uncrewed systems interoperable inside a coalition kill chain. Valiant Shield is described by Boeing as a biennial event aimed at improving proficiency in detecting, locating, tracking, and engaging targets across multiple domains, including cyberspace. Demonstrating that an uncrewed combat aircraft can plug into that kind of training is a practical milestone for CCAs, even when the aircraft’s specific mission roles in the exercise are not publicly itemized.

Still, key details remain unclear. Boeing did not disclose specific communications architecture performance, autonomous decision-making modes used during Valiant Shield, payload configuration during the exercise, or the precise nature of how the MQ-28 coordinated with particular crewed aircraft beyond the general description of participation and joint-tactics refinement. Observers will likely look for further disclosures about integration steps, including how open systems and reference architectures translate into real coalition interoperability under exercise conditions.

What to watch next is whether the MQ-28’s exercise participation translates into additional testing milestones with increasingly operationally representative scenarios. Boeing’s release emphasizes integration, interchangeability, and deployment readiness, so subsequent updates could focus on expanding the number of participating coalition platforms, adding more sovereign payload options, or moving from tactics development toward more persistent operational concepts. For the Air Force and allies, the near-term question is whether CCAs can be integrated at scale into joint force training with repeatable procedures, not only in a single exercise window but across future readiness cycles.