FARNBOROUGH, England – 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 defense 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 defense 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.