Ghost Tigers: Should Australia’s retiring Tiger helicopters get second life as autonomous attackers?

The two-seater Tiger attack helicopters were originally introduced into service with the ADF in 2004, expected to be retired from service in 2027–28 but will now be withdrawn in 2026, according to the multibillion-dollar 2026 National Defence Strategy and a revamped Integrated Investment Program.

What’s everyone else doing?

What sounds like a far-fetched concept is closer to reality than it originally appears. It’s already forecast that international rivals and allies are exploring the use of outdated military vehicles being fitted with uncrewed guidance systems.

The People’s Republic of China is perhaps the most well-known example as the People’s Liberation Army Air Force is reportedly converting large numbers of Cold War-era J-6 and J-7 fighter jet airframes into uncrewed one-way attack drones.

Those aircraft are allegedly designed as “missile sponges” to scout, absorb, overwhelm and exhaust enemy anti-air defence assets through massive volume of obsolete but still threatening expendable aircraft.

Similarly, other countries reportedly exploring the concept includes Russia, Ukraine and the United States.

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The Australian Defence Force itself has previously approved a similar concept for land vehicles, with the Australian Defence Cooperative Research Centre for Trusted Autonomous Systems and British defence company BAE Systems Australia developing advanced artificial intelligence for uncrewed ground vehicles in 2024.

The Trusted Autonomous Ground Vehicles in Electronic Warfare system was designed to allow multiple unmanned ground vehicles to operate simultaneously to carry out mission objectives while identifying and evading potential threats. A demonstration in that year saw TAGVIEW installed on several M113 optionally crewed combat vehicles and trialled in a series of planned relocation, logistical and sweep search missions.

Mission impossible or easy fix?

To see if it was possible, Defence Connect reached out to CubePilot Global, a Victorian supplier of NDAA-compliant, open-source autopilot systems to several international customers.

“One hundred percent (possible) if they (Australian Defence Force) would like us to automate them (Tigers), we can definitely do that,” chief executive officer Philip Rowse said.

“(They would) only be limited by how open minded defence is. Take-off, landing, waypoint missions etcetera, that’s the basics.

“Remote control of the 30mm chin gun. Remote reconnaissance via the Strix sights (thermal, roof mounted sights)? No real limitations. Definitely a project worth exploring. (It) really would depend on how creative the Australian Defence Force and Defence Department want to be.

“When the MH90 (Taipan) was being disposed of, we actually offered to convert them into drones … Sending them to Ukraine as a decoy or whatever.

“We were volunteering to do it at no cost … We didn’t really care how they (the Ukrainians) used them, but as far as automating them, that would have been a fairly straightforward exercise and we were offering to do that no cost to Defence. But anyway, that’s a ship that has well and truly sailed.

“It’s actually a very simple thing. The Super Hornets, as an example, when they get to the point of being retired, they could run on a system that our autopilot could plug into very easily and that would actually be quite a straightforward project of automating them and turning them into drones.

“The concept is perfectly logical. You have an airframe and if you can put an autopilot in … We can do multiple missions, that’s not an issue. Yeah, taking off, landing, taxiing, all of that can be done.

“(Air-to-air refuelling) in theory, of course it could be done. We can do teaming, which has already been proven … So refuelling is just flying in formation in a very, very precise way. We’ve never attempted that sort of thing, whereas the rest I can definitely say, yes, we can do it.”

Are uncrewed Tigers more bang for your buck or a losing strategy in the long term?

Converting aircraft into one-use “missile sponges” aligns well with the currently in vogue trend of committing to autonomous and expendable airpower.

Advocates for converting older military aircraft into uncrewed platforms could argue that they provide a cheaper and faster way to expand drone capability without building entirely new aircraft.

Theoretically, using existing airframes and engines would be lower cost initially with the added benefit removing pilot risk from the equation and providing potentially significant force multiplication through attritable “missile barge” concepts.

In addition, older model aircraft can still retain some potency with international variants like the MIG-19 and J-7 capable of supersonic speeds in level flight, understood flight characteristics as well as ready-to-use mounts for munitions.

However, the strategy loses some of its appeal when considering airframe fatigue, electronic warfare resilience, viability against evolving air defence systems and the resources being used initially and maintenance on older airframes over time that could have been put towards more modern and capable platforms.

Final thoughts

The concept of converting retired military aircraft into autonomous systems is certainly appealing as it centres around the world’s shifting attitude towards cheaper, expendable and autonomous warfare capabilities.

Advances in artificial intelligence and autopilot systems make the concept technically achievable, while sustaining ageing aircraft may bring cost, maintenance and survivability challenges.

For Australia, the retirement of the Tiger helicopter fleet presents a classic example to the question of whether legacy platforms can still provide value through roles such as reconnaissance, decoy operations or autonomous strike missions.

Robert Dougherty

Robert is a senior journalist who has previously worked for Seven West Media in Western Australia, as well as Fairfax Media and Australian Community Media in New South Wales. He has produced national headlines, photography and videography of emergency services, business, community, defence and government news across Australia. Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Public Relations and Journalism at Curtin University, attended student exchange program with Fudan University and holds Tier 1 General Advice certification for Kaplan Professional. Reach out via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via LinkedIn.