Boeing to Introduce MQ-28 Ghost Bat for UK Collaborative Combat Aircraft Program
Australian-developed CCA aimed at future operational requirement. Boeing will be promoting its MQ-28 Ghost Bat at the Farnborough air show, in anticipation of a future UK requirement for an operational collaborative combat aircraft (CCA). "We definitely see some applicability in terms of its capability, and certainly in terms of its maturity to the UK armed forces," says Thom Breckenridge, managing director of Boeing Defence UK. "BD UK could be an important partner in sustainment and potentially other pieces, when we think payload or otherwise," he said during a pre-show briefing on 13 July. The UK's recently published Defence Investment Plan (DIP) details a CCA demonstration activity which will see a UK system flown before 2030, describing such a platform as an " autonomous fighter jet ". It did not, however, provide any firm detail about a possible future acquisition. "We are very enthusiastic about the platform and the capability, and certainly see applicability for MQ-28 in the UK," Breckenridge says of the Australian-developed Ghost Bat. "The maturity of the platform relative to competitors sets it apart, in addition to the unique capability and the way it was developed," he claims. Boeing also will use the 20-24 July event to promote its T-7A Red Hawk, which is among several likely competitors for the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) future jet trainer requirement. "We think it's the best answer for the UK's JTS [jet training system] competition," says Boeing Defence UK fixed-wing director Ben Kelsey. "It brings not just an aircraft but a ground-based training system, and synthetic alongside live training, in a way that we think answers the UK's needs better than any other solution." The process of selecting a replacement for BAE Systems' Hawk T2 remains at an early stage, with the DIP outlining an initial £360 million ($482 million) through the rest of this decade towards a fleet recapitalisation that also will provide new aircraft for the RAF's Red Arrows aerobatic display team. "We are thinking about how we position that [proposal] best for the UK," Kelsey says, referring to a letter of intent signed last November under which BAE would perform final assembly of the T-7 if it is selected for RAF service. "We will be looking with interest at the RFP [request for proposals] as that evolves over the next few months," he says, with Boeing committed to "bringing as much [work] as possible into UK suppliers". Boeing Defence UK will in December mark the 30th anniversary of its formation, with the company having grown from an initial six employees to a current total of 2,000. Its personnel are located at multiple military sites, among them Lossiemouth, Waddington, Wattisham, along with Bristol and Gosport. Its main activities include delivering comprehensive support for the RAF CH-47 Chinook and British Army AH-64E Apache helicopters, and for the RAF's P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. It also delivers pilot and maintainer training for the air force's fleet of C-17 strategic transports, using a facility in Farnborough. "We are in places where the RAF or the army are, and we are working alongside them every day," Breckenridge notes. The company is also supporting the ongoing introduction of the E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control system, with the first of three 737NG-based examples having been undergoing testing since May at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. The RAF’s first of three E-7A Wedgetails arrived at its Lossiemouth base in May. Source: Crown Copyright "We are looking forward to seeing E-7 go through flight trials over the coming months and then get into service in due course, as well as seeing the next couple of aircraft get finished," Kelsey says. "We have got some work ahead of us with the RAF as we go through that final testing stage, but we have got a dedicated, focused team who certainly see the need to get that capability completed and handed over. "The need to get E-7 into service is clear, and we are very focussed on that. But we are very focussed also on making sure that the product is safe and to the quality level that we'd expect, so that it delivers as we know it can, as a world-beating capability."