Rheinmetall and Boeing Partner on MQ-28 Ghost Bat for Bundeswehr; Rheinmetall as System Manager
Düsseldorf, 31 March 2026
Key points
- Rheinmetall and Boeing Australia on 31 March announced a strategic partnership to offer the MQ-28 Ghost Bat as the mature solution for the Bundeswehr's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) procurement, with Luftwaffe service entry target 2029
- Rheinmetall assumes the role of system manager: integration into Bundeswehr command and weapons systems, adaptation to national requirements, and operational / logistical / maintenance support; CEO Armin Papperger frames revenue potential in the three-digit-million-euro range
- Announcement follows Defence Minister Boris Pistorius's Australia visit on 27 March in which he publicly stated the Ghost Bat was "under consideration" for the Luftwaffe; MQ-28 has completed over 150 flights for the Royal Australian Air Force
Rheinmetall and Boeing Australia on 31 March announced a strategic partnership to offer the MQ-28 Ghost Bat as a mature solution for the Bundeswehr's Collaborative Combat Aircraft procurement, with Rheinmetall as system manager and Luftwaffe service entry targeted for 2029 — the announcement landing four days after Defence Minister Boris Pistorius publicly named the Ghost Bat as "under consideration" during his Australia visit.
Under the partnership, Rheinmetall takes the system-manager role: integrating the MQ-28 into the Bundeswehr's existing and future command and weapons systems, adapting the platform to national requirements, and ensuring operational, logistical and maintenance support. The arrangement preserves Boeing as airframe designer and US-side technology source while transferring mission integration and sustainment authority to the European prime. The MQ-28 Ghost Bat has completed over 150 flights for the Royal Australian Air Force and is the most operationally mature loyal-wingman platform available outside the US CCA programme.
Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger frames revenue potential in the three-digit-million-euro range. The MQ-28 partnership runs alongside Rheinmetall's other unmanned-platform partnerships — including the Anduril Fury arrangement for the broader CCA market — which positions Rheinmetall as the dual-track integration prime for the German loyal-wingman tender at the moment when the Bundeswehr is settling its post-FCAS combat-air architecture.
The Bundeswehr's 2029 service-entry target places the MQ-28 Ghost Bat partnership inside the same operational window as the Airbus + Kratos Valkyrie programme at Manching and the Helsing + HENSOLDT CA-1 Europa (first flight 2027). The structural reading is that the Bundeswehr's CCA selection has at least three credible bidders running in parallel under structurally different industrial models — Boeing / Rheinmetall, Kratos / Airbus, and Anduril / Helsing — with the formal tender still pending. A configuration first surfaced in Signal No. 28.
Related · Bundeswehr Collaborative Combat Aircraft tender
Airbus discloses Valkyrie / XQ-58A Bundeswehr Jagdbomberdrohne roadmap (17 April 2026)
Sources: Rheinmetall AG, Boeing Australia, Bundesministerium der Verteidigung, Royal Australian Air Force.
First reported in Signal No. 28, 31 March 2026.