Germany eyes MQ-28 Ghost Bat as Berlin shifts drone procurement

Key facts

• Boris Pistorius said Germany is considering buying the Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat, which could make Berlin the first foreign customer.
• MQ-28 is designed to fly alongside crewed fighters such as the F-35, carrying sensors, jammers or weapons for higher-risk missions.
• Pistorius indicated Germany is shifting toward test-first, stepwise procurement, citing recent loitering-munition purchases as a model.

3 minute read

Germany is considering acquiring the Australian-made Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in Canberra, a move that would potentially make Berlin the first export customer for the programme and signal a widening of Germany’s combat-air industrial options beyond its customary US and European suppliers. The MQ-28 is framed as a “loyal wingman” unmanned aircraft intended to operate in concert with crewed fighters, including the F-35, carrying sensors, electronic warfare payloads or weapons and executing higher-risk tasks ahead of human pilots. For European air forces facing mass and survivability constraints in high-end air defence environments, this class of platform is increasingly central to force design, particularly as Russia’s air-defence and electronic-warfare performance in Ukraine reinforces the need for distributed sensing, standoff jamming and attritable mission packages.

Pistorius’ comments are equally notable for what they imply about procurement mechanics. He described a more flexible approach in which Germany tests what systems “really offer” in practice, rather than committing to long-term contracts based primarily on documentation and demonstrations, and then scales procurement “step by step” if performance is validated. This mirrors a broader European trend toward accelerated acquisition cycles for drones and loitering munitions, with an emphasis on rapid fielding, iterative upgrades and competitive sourcing—an approach that can shorten capability timelines but also increases integration burdens for airworthiness, data links, sovereign mission systems and sustainment.

For Europe, an MQ-28 path would raise near-term questions around interoperability with Luftwaffe F-35 operations, integration of sensors and electronic attack payloads, and the governance of autonomy and teaming concepts within NATO rules of engagement. Industrially, it would test how Germany balances investment in European collaborative combat air efforts with selectively importing mature “attritable” systems from outside Europe. Politically, Pistorius’ Indo-Pacific tour underscores Berlin’s intent to diversify security partnerships, and a Ghost Bat deal—if pursued—would be a concrete manifestation of that strategy, while also adding a new competitor into Europe’s evolving uncrewed combat ecosystem.

Source: Politico.eu