Boeing trains first RAAF MQ-28A pilot

BRISBANE, Queensland, August 21, 2024 – Boeing’s [NYSE: BA] MQ-28A Ghost Bat program has achieved another milestone with the first Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) member taking the controls of the aircraft.

WGCDR Phil Parsons, an experienced remote systems pilot for the past 10 years, completed Boeing’s training on June 13, becoming the first non-Boeing pilot on the program.

As a launch and recovery operator, Parsons would oversee launch and recovery of the aircraft, which involves ground preparation, take-off and landing operations.

“MQ-28A is designed to team with piloted aircraft through an ‘operator-in-the-loop’ approach,” said Glen Ferguson, Boeing Defence Australia MQ-28 program director.

“During a typical mission, a launch and recovery operator like Wing Commander Parsons 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.

“On completion of the mission, the aircraft would be handed back to the launch and recovery operator to oversee landing, deceleration and complete stop of the vehicle,” Ferguson said.

Parsons’ training included observing and monitoring the aircraft as it executed commands to climb and descend, accelerate and decelerate, or navigate to a specific waypoint to achieve test points as part of the current advanced testing program.

“The MQ-28A, while similar in many aspects of operation to other remotely piloted systems, is embracing technological advancements in how a launch and recovery operator interacts with the aircraft,” Parsons said.

Boeing’s MQ-28A co-development program with the RAAF is accelerating, with the focus shifting from testing the aircraft’s flying and handling qualities to capability advancement including progressing teaming behaviours, mission systems, sensors and payload testing.