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Valiant Shield 2026 Underway as Allies Test MQ-28 Ghost Bat and Multi-Domain Skills

The drills are testing human‑machine teaming, integrated command-and-control, cyber, space, and missile‑defence skills to sharpen allied deterrence across the Indo‑Pacific.

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U.S. Air Force HC-130J Combat King II assigned to the 79th Rescue Squadron takes off behind a Boeing Defence Australia’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat, a production representative test aircraft, during Exercise Valiant Shield 2026 at Rota, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, June 21, 2026. (Image credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Adrien Tran)
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Overview

  • Valiant Shield 2026 is taking place across the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Japan and surrounding waters in late June, bringing U.S., Japanese, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand forces together for multi-domain exercises through July 1.
  • A production-representative MQ-28 Ghost Bat collaborative combat aircraft is flying with crewed platforms to refine tactics, procedures and human oversight for semi-autonomous teaming in defensive and offensive counter-air roles.
  • Australia has deployed about 80 ADF personnel and a RAAF P-8A Poseidon to embed in air-battle management and integrated air/missile-defence units to test interoperability with U.S. and partner forces.
  • Japan has temporarily hosted containerized Typhon and HIMARS systems at Kanoya Air Base for anti-ship and integrated training with no live firing planned, and the MOD says the systems will be withdrawn and stored at U.S. bases in Japan afterward.
  • Commanders frame the exercise as a way to improve rapid crisis response, information sharing and cyber/space operations, building on Valiant Shield’s evolution from a U.S. drill in 2006 to a multilateral exercise that expanded allied integration in 2024.