- Strategic partnership supports Germany’s planned 2029 deployment of collaborative combat aircraft (CCA)
- MQ-28 Ghost Bat is a world-leading, proven CCA that can be modified to meet Germany’s sovereign requirements
- MQ-28 will make a significant contribution to the operational capability of the German Air Force
BERLIN, March 31, 2026 — Rheinmetall and Boeing [NYSE: BA] Australia have entered into a strategic partnership to offer the MQ-28 Ghost Bat as a mature solution for the Bundeswehr’s procurement of collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) into Germany by 2029.
Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat has completed more than 150 flights and has been designed, developed and manufactured in Australia for the Royal Australian Air Force and other allied nations.
A proven autonomous CCA, it will act as a force multiplier, teaming with manned platforms to provide critical combat mass in highly contested airspace. Its modular design and autonomous behaviours support a broad range of mission capabilities, including reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and the integration of weapons systems.
Under the partnership, Rheinmetall, with its experience in 5th-generation fighter aircraft and unmanned systems and its strong industrial base, will be the system manager for MQ-28 in Germany, overseeing system integration into existing and future command and weapon systems of the Bundeswehr, adaptation to national requirements and ensuring operational, maintenance, and logistical support.
“With Boeing Defence Australia as a partner, we are laying the groundwork to optimally tailor the MQ-28 to the Bundeswehr’s requirements,” said Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall AG. “As a system integrator, we ensure that integration, operation, and further development come from a single source whilst simultaneously strengthening industrial value creation in the form of an industrial hub in Germany and Europe. We see revenue potential for Rheinmetall in the range of hundreds of millions of euros.”
The strategic partnership ensures a high level of national and sovereign value creation and supply security in Germany.
The MQ-28 Ghost Bat’s open, modular system architecture allows for continuous upgrades and rapid capability growth. Rheinmetall will support a dedicated digital environment in country, where engineers from both Germany and Australia contribute, test and validate new software and hardware innovations.
“This is not just a partnership between our companies but between two great countries, Germany and Australia, who share a similar strategy for integrating collaborative combat aircraft into their air forces,” said Dr. Brendan Nelson, president of Boeing Global. “Our partnership will see Germany’s industrial base leverage years of Australian innovation and investment to field and evolve MQ-28 for the Bundeswehr.”
The collaboration supports joint development, testing and the systematic growth of German content on the Australian-developed platform and offers the Bundeswehr considerable time savings in the deployment of a CCA capability by 2029.
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About Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall AG is an integrated technology group, with its headquarters in Düsseldorf. Founded in 1889, it is a leading international systems house for the defence industry and operates within land, air, sea and space domains. A focus on sustainability is an integral part of Rheinmetall’s strategy. With around 33,000 employees at about 180 sites worldwide, the company has been listed on the DAX 40 since March 2023 and generated sales of €9.9 billion in the 2025 financial year.
About Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat
Developed by Boeing in Australia over the past eight years, the MQ-28 Ghost Bat is the world’s most mature CCA, ready to deliver air-to-ground capability to Germany by 2029. It has been purposely designed to support the integration of third-party sovereign capability and conceived to be modular and adaptable to meet evolving capability needs – both in terms of mission systems and sovereign industrial requirements. The MQ-28 has delivered operationally relevant capabilities for the Royal Australian Air Force, most recently culminating with autonomously engaging and destroying an airborne target in a first-of-its-kind demonstration.