Overview
- Rheinmetall and Boeing Australia announced a strategic partnership Tuesday to offer the MQ-28 Ghost Bat to the Bundeswehr, with Rheinmetall taking the role of Germany’s system manager for integration, operations and support.
- The MQ-28 is a large, reusable ‘wingman’ drone of about 10 meters with a range over 5,000 kilometers that flies alongside crewed jets for scouting, electronic warfare and strike, and test aircraft have flown 150-plus times with a recent autonomous missile attack demonstrated.
- After visiting Boeing in Australia last week, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Germany will decide on drone purchases as soon as possible, and planners want several hundred aircraft in service by 2029.
- Competing bids include Airbus pairing the XQ-58 Valkyrie with European mission software and a Helsing–Hensoldt team developing the CA-1 Europa, keeping pressure on Berlin to balance speed, cost and industrial sovereignty.
- Rheinmetall says German-led integration could build an industrial hub in Europe and projects revenue in the high hundreds of millions of euros if its proposal is selected.