With ‘Ghost Bat’ Drone, Australia Gears Up for New Arms Race

Australia|With ‘Ghost Bat’ Drone, Australia Gears Up for New Arms Race

The two onyx-colored aircraft took off within a minute of each other, disappearing over an expanse of red desert stippled with low shrubbery.

No human was on either plane as they carved a path through the boundless desert sky on Friday as part of a preprogrammed mission. The pilot was on the ground, hundreds of miles away in a nondescript shack, and ready to take control should the need arise.

The aircraft were MQ-28A Ghost Bats, 38-foot-long military drones that function as robot wingmen of sorts. Australia is investing heavily to develop and produce these so-called collaborative combat aircraft, which will help the country defend its shores at a time when military threats are encroaching ever closer and wiping out what was once its strongest bulwark against potential conflict: distance.

Australia has invested about $650 million so far in a partnership with Boeing to develop the drones, which will be the first to be designed and manufactured in Australia in more than half a century. It is a tidal shift for the close American ally, which after decades of relying on the United States for its military equipment is trying to jump start its defense industry, one that had atrophied since the end of the Cold War.

In Beijing this week, China showcased several “loyal wingman”-type drones, signaling that it too was investing heavily in unmanned systems. The U.S. Air Force is also developing collaborative combat aircraft, which are designed to fly alongside piloted fighter jets to amplify air capacity at a fraction of the cost and with reduced human risk.

“We’re seeing the biggest conventional arms race since World War II,” said Pat Conroy, Australia’s minister for defense industry. “China is massively modernizing its conventional and nuclear armed forces.”