British built Banshee drones fly as targets at Balikatan

Jet-driven aerial target drones flew as simulated adversaries during the live-fire integrated air and missile defence serial at Balikatan 2026, giving US and Philippine air defence teams moving targets to track and engage.

The event took place at Naval Station Leovigildo Gantioqui in Zambales, Philippines, on 28 April 2026. According to US Indo-Pacific Command, its J7 Pacific Multi-Domain Training and Experimentation Capability, known as PMTEC, supplied remotely piloted aerial drones to represent adversary aircraft or cruise missiles, providing live targets for the combined force to detect and engage. The command said the use of the drones improves technical proficiency and builds collaboration between the two nations’ air defenders.

Qinetiq has supplied Banshee targets to operators in more than 40 countries, and the US Army’s Threat Systems Management Office fields a tailored variant designated the MQM-185B, integrated with its Army Ground Aerial Target Control System.

QinetiQ markets the Banshee as a means of replicating the kinds of threats air defence units expect to face. According to the company, the twin-jet Banshee Jet 80+ reaches airspeeds of around 200 metres per second, can operate up to 30,000 feet, and is able to fly low-level sea-skimming and terrain-following profiles to emulate cruise missiles and fast jets. The wider Banshee line spans the propeller-driven Whirlwind and the Jet 40+ and Jet 80+ variants, each able to carry a range of payloads for maritime, air-to-air and land-to-air training.

Demand for such targets has grown as Western forces seek to rehearse against the threats now seen in active theatres. QinetiQ has said recent Banshee use includes generating drone-swarm scenarios that mirror attacks observed in Ukraine and the Red Sea, and in 2025 the company marked the production of its 10,000th Banshee airframe.

Balikatan is a long-running annual exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US military. US Indo-Pacific Command describes the drill as a demonstration of the alliance between the two countries and of a combined force intended to support regional security, with the 2026 edition again drawing the two militaries together across multiple domains.