By Cassell Bryan-Low

FARNBOROUGH, England, July 22 (Reuters) – Boeing flexed its muscle in the race to build autonomous fighter aircraft at the Farnborough Airshow, displaying its Ghost Bat drone, as rivals pitched competing designs for what could become a new multibillion-dollar defence market.

While U.S. competitors General Atomics and Anduril Industries displayed full-scale models of their ‌new class of uncrewed aircraft designed to fly alongside manned fighter jets, Boeing showcased a working aircraft — the Ghost Bat.

The race to build autonomous uncrewed combat aircraft, one ‌of the defence industry’s most closely watched competitions, has attracted a raft of U.S. and European companies, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Europe’s Airbus.

The U.S. Air Force has said it expects aircraft in its program to cost a ​third, or less, of the cost of an F-35 fighter jet, which can cost $80 million or more.

Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, said the market could eventually reach hundreds of aircraft a year, although widespread adoption may not come until the mid-2030s.

GHOST BAT ‘MOST MATURE’ MODEL, BOEING SAYS

Earlier this month, Boeing’s Ghost Bat became the first of this emerging class of unmanned combat aircraft to participate in a multinational military exercise led by the U.S., according to the company. It followed a live-fire test against an aerial target in December.

“We’ve got the most mature collaborative combat aircraft,” Bernd Peters, Boeing’s vice president of ‌development and strategy, told Reuters, adding that the company has been ⁠working on the program since 2017. “It’s real hardware you see in front of you.”

Still, some rivals point to their speed of development and progress in scaling up production.

“In two years, we have surpassed what a lot of other companies have been working on for many years,” Jason Levin, a senior ⁠vice president at Anduril, told Reuters. “Rather than just making small incremental steps, we like to make large steps.”

Boeing is working to produce seven unmanned combat aircraft for the Australian Defence Force, following a A$754 million ($528 million) three-year contract announced in December. Boeing says it has conducted more than 100 test flights and is confident it can produce advanced autonomous capabilities.

The U.S. Air Force last month said it had awarded production contracts to ​designs ​from General Atomics and Anduril to build its first fleet of semi-autonomous wingmen, a program called Collaborative Combat ​Aircraft (CCA).

LIVE-FIRE TEST

Last week, the U.S. Air Force said it conducted a live-fire ‌test at a digital target involving Anduril’s aircraft over the Mojave Desert. Earlier this year, Anduril began building its FURY combat drone at a new facility in Ohio. The company could build up to 150 aircraft a year, according to Levin, who declined to comment on how many it is building for the U.S. Air Force.

General Atomics spokesperson Phil Ewing said the company had produced “multiple” aircraft for the U.S. Air Force program but declined to elaborate. He added that the company has decades-long experience in building uncrewed aircraft, such as the Predator drone. What differentiates this new class of aircraft is autonomy, and General Atomics has done “thousands and thousands” of hours of autonomous flights over the past few years, said Ewing.

The U.S. Air Force has said competition will result in the ‌selection of a primary provider for the first phase of its CCA program, with an award planned by ​summer 2027. It plans to procure more than 150 combat-capable CCA by the end of the decade.

Alongside the hardware ​contracts, the U.S. Air Force also moved forward on the software side of the ​program, awarding mission autonomy production contracts to a pool of six vendors, including Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin “continues to invest in compelling solutions for the USAF” and others, ‌a company spokesperson said, adding the company’s uncrewed combat aircraft is “in the ​build phase and will fly next year.”

TARGETING EUROPE

European governments ​are also developing programs and some U.S. defence companies are teaming up with local manufacturers to produce variants targeted at the region’s militaries. That includes Boeing, which has announced partnerships with several German companies to offer an aircraft to the German Air Force by 2029.

European companies are also vying to compete. Also on display at the airshow was ​Airbus’ recently unveiled U760 Ravenstorm, which the company says it expects to ‌be operational in the early 2030s.

In the interim, Airbus is working on a model called U740 Valkyrie and plans to conduct test flights later this year with ​two aircraft it acquired from U.S.-based Kratos Defense (KTOS.O). An Airbus spokesperson said its approach enabled it to offer European air forces “operational experimentation capabilities” in the near term.

($1 = ​1.4273 Australian dollars)

(Cassell Bryan-Low, additional reporting by Dan Catchpole and Joe Brock; Editing by Sharon Singleton)