Japan weighs Ghost Bat drone for its coastal defense plan

Boeing plans to offer Japan’s Ministry of Defense a drone it developed jointly with the Royal Australian Air Force, as Tokyo works out a new coastal defense concept built around unmanned aircraft, according to the Nikkei.

Boeing’s defense division president, Steve Parker, told Nikkei the company will propose its MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone to the ministry. The aircraft is designed to fly alongside crewed fighter jets, connected over a network so it can share sensor data and extend a manned aircraft’s reach without putting another pilot at risk. Nikkei reported that European rival Airbus is also weighing whether to enter Japan’s drone market, as American, European and Japanese defense contractors compete for position ahead of the ministry’s coastal defense buildout, alongside newer companies also seeking a foothold.

The Ghost Bat, formerly known as the Boeing Airpower Teaming System, was developed by Boeing’s Australian subsidiary together with the Royal Australian Air Force as a stealthy, roughly 12-meter (39-foot) unmanned aircraft that can operate autonomously or in coordination with piloted jets.

As of late 2024, Australia had received eight early production Block 1 aircraft, which have logged more than 100 hours of flight testing at the Woomera Test Range and have carried out live weapons drops from under-wing hardpoints. Boeing is now building nine Block 2 aircraft as a transitional version and has said it plans an enlarged Block 3 model with an internal weapons bay and longer range.

The drone has been building an international sales pitch well beyond Australia. Boeing partnered with German firm Rheinmetall in March to offer the Ghost Bat to Germany’s air force for its own unmanned fighter requirement. In June, the aircraft made its first appearance in a large multinational exercise, flying out of the Mariana Islands during Valiant Shield 2026, a Pacific war game that drew forces from the United States, Australia, Japan, Canada and New Zealand. And this summer, a Ghost Bat completed flight tests at Naval Air Station Point Mugu in California wearing a new two-tone gray camouflage scheme and carrying, for the first time, an infrared search and track sensor built into its modular nose section, widely seen as Boeing positioning the aircraft for the U.S. Navy’s carrier-based unmanned fighter program.

Japan has already worked with Boeing on early drone testing. The country’s defense ministry awarded Boeing a roughly ¥155 million ($997,000) contract in early 2025 to simulate unmanned aircraft capable of operating alongside crewed jets, part of Tokyo’s manned-unmanned teaming research tied to its next-generation fighter program, which Japan is developing jointly with the United Kingdom and Italy. Japan, the U.S. and Taiwan separately agreed in 2023 to share real-time drone data to support defense coordination in the Pacific, and the U.S. confirmed in 2024 that Japan would formally join its Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, the American effort behind the broader loyal wingman concept the Ghost Bat is designed around.