The surprising first U.S. deployment of a collaborative combat aircraft

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HEAR FROM THE AIR CURRENT

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At a remote airfield in the northwestern Pacific ocean, the U.S. military is operating a stealthy, uncrewed fighter aircraft for the first time as part of a major field training exercise.

Boeing’s MQ-28A Ghost Bat is serving as a “loyal wingman” to piloted fighter jets during Valiant Shield 2026, a multinational combat simulation taking place from June 22 to July 1 that tests the Pentagon’s strategy to confront a rising China. The Ghost Bat’s participation is all the more surprising since the Australian-made Boeing drone hasn’t yet been selected as a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) by any branch of the U.S. military.

“U.S. forces are integrating and testing the MQ-28 Ghost Bat,” a spokesperson for Valiant Shield’s Joint Information Bureau confirmed to The Air Current. “This platform allows us to experiment with and advance our understanding of human-machine teaming and how uncrewed aircraft can augment our existing combat air forces.”

Word of the deployment first leaked when local residents of Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) noted the presence of the stealthy aircraft on social media during a static display demonstration of Marine Corps and Air Force equipment at Rota Island’s Benjamin T. Manglona International Airport on June 21.

The Air Force’s goal for the deployment of the production-ready MQ-28 is to inform requirements for its ongoing procurement of potentially thousands of CCA aircraft, pushing the service a step closer to understanding how to properly field loyal wingman fighters, a component of future force projection that the Pentagon sees as key to confronting peer adversaries in the Pacific.

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