Boeing Airpower Teaming System (ATS) - MQ-28 Ghost Bat

[DWG]

Non Intelligent Humans?

There's a lot of it about, especially when people are invoking Not Invented Here

 

[ncc81701]

So Boeing not bidding MQ-28 into Inc 1 would seem to indicate that it doesn't meet at least one of USAFs key requirements and so didn't stand a chance of winning. I wonder which one(s)?

People are over thinking it. The reason of why MQ-28 or a derivative wasn’t part of the CCA increment 1 program is because MQ-28 was developed with Australian money and they probably had contractual clauses that ensures that the design is sovereign to Australia. Sharing parts or using elements designed for US could inject ITAR to the vehicle and allow the US some say in how it can be used, whether they can be exported. Australia would have an active interest in not letting that happen since it was completely an Australian effort to develop the MQ-28.

 

[Scott Kenny]

There's a lot of it about, especially when people are invoking Not Invented Here

You beat me to that joke.

 

[TomcatViP]

X-47B reached the same milestone (100 flights) in only 2.5 years with only 2 prototypes (vs 4 years here).

X-47B was the product of an experienced team working with well refined infrastructures.
Australia is ramping up on all aspects at the same time. Even if it's a "Boeing" project, IMOHO, that's still a good number.
How many flight did log Neuron, Taranis or even the entire Airbus Tiger fleet of Australian helo in a similar time frame?

 

[red admiral]

Dassault Neuron managed 123 flights in <3 years 2013-2015 from a single aircraft. Unclear what flight duration there was. Maybe multiple hours, maybe under an hour. Definitely quite a difference to the MQ-28 fleet by a very large margin.

The two YF-22 aircraft managed 91hrs in 3 months.

Both these examples are really "demonstrators" rather than "prototypes"

For MQ-28 then I don't know whether its availability driven, or they're simply not actually trying to fly the aircraft that much. But in this case then why bother to build so many prototypes?

 

[TomcatViP]

CCA involves multiple airframe teaming.
Also all the code is new for a new mission. We don't know exactly what Boeing was specifically targeting in its development there, aside of building up a team, but we could rationally understand that they were trying not to duplicate their achievements in the US where they own the IP. So part of it might have been virtual, not involving a flight sequence where they gained confidence that the appropriate KPI were checked.

 

[Rhinocrates]

There's a lot of it about, especially when people are invoking Not Invented Here

There's another rule too:

I couldn't, so you mustn't.

 

[DWG]

X-47B was the product of an experienced team working with well refined infrastructures.
Australia is ramping up on all aspects at the same time. Even if it's a "Boeing" project, IMOHO, that's still a good number.
How many flight did log Neuron, Taranis or even the entire Airbus Tiger fleet of Australian helo in a similar time frame?

Not sure about the figure for Taranis, but at around the same time BAE Systems was also developing Corax, Herti, Mantis, Silver Fox, Ampersand, and GA22 (at least). So the flights and development effort add up.
And Taranis itself was also caught up in the political intent to cross it and Neuron to produce FCAS (this FCAS was an Anglo-French UCAV, not the current Franco-Italo-German fighter).

 

[Grey Havoc]

Australian air force bullish on Ghost Bat ahead of production decision - Breaking Defense

"I just think we don't quite understand how much this will change Air Force going forward," Australian Air Vice Marshall Nick Hogan said.

breakingdefense.com

 

[bobbymike]

https://www.nationaldefensemagazine...wants-to-fire-weapons-off-ghost-bat-this-year