The US Navy’s been running tests of the MQ-25 Stingray
on USS George H.W. Bush as it operates in the Atlantic.
Naval Air Systems Command said that the tests on the Bush
focused on the MQ-25's deck handling system during the day and nighttime operations.
Those included taxiing and parking on the flight deck, connecting to the catapult and clearing
the landing area. MQ-25 “deck operators” used Boeing’s new Deck Control Device — basically,
packs that operators carry on their backs and arms, to operate the drone.
The deck handling demonstration on USS George H.W. Bush followed a two-year flight test campaign for
the Boeing-owned T1 test aircraft. In this period, Boeing and the USN refueled F/A-18 Super Hornet,
E-2D Hawkeye and F-35C Lightning II carrier-based aircraft
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why the MQ-25 refueling drone would make US supercarriers
much more deadly? Let's get started
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As part of the testing, the Navy and specialists from Boeing
carried out simulated launch and landing of the MQ-25 with the Joint Precision Landing System,
a new software-based navigation and approach landing series.
The system automates most of the stick and throttle work,
pilots testing and certifying on it during spring flight operations on USS Gerald R. Ford have said.
The simulations on the Bush will help refine the system’s software
for MQ-25 operations, with critical data on how motions of a carrier affect landings.
Capt. Chad Reed, Unmanned Carrier Aviation program manager,
“There is no better way to determine the success of a carrier aircraft design
and its integration into the air wing than to put that new aircraft through testing at sea.
Our initial look at taxi operations on the flight deck successfully demonstrated the MQ-25′s
ability to maneuver just like a manned aircraft in the shipboard environment.”
The Boeing MQ-25 Stingray is an aerial refueling drone that resulted from the
Carrier-Based Aerial-Refueling System or CBARS program, which grew out of the
earlier Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program
In October 2017, U.S Navy released the final MQ-25 Stingray RFP.
The competitors were Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and General Atomics.
General Atomics proposed the Sea Avenger concept which is an enlarged version of the Avenger drone
customized for air refueling. Lockheed Martin put on the table, their
Sea Ghost design based on the RQ-170 Sentinel. Northrop Grumman initially proposed X-47B
but later withdrew, stating it wouldn’t be able to execute the program under the terms of the
service’s request for proposals. Boeing came into the competition,
with a full-fledged prototype derived from its Phantom Ray demonstrator which ultimately won.
The MQ-25 Stingray is powered by a single Rolls-Royce AE 3007N turbofan engine that
delivers 10,000 lb or 4,500 kg of thrust. The initial contract of $805 million
covers the design, development, fabrication, test, and delivery of 4 Stingray unmanned tanker drones.
Ultimately, the contract is worth $13 billion as around 72 such drones will be inducted in total.
The 50-foot-long MQ-25 drone, which can fly 500 nautical miles or about 925 km carrying a load of
16,000 pounds of fuel, will be the world’s first operational, carrier-based unmanned aircraft.
While the aircraft is less stealthy than flying wing UAVs, it does feature a
stealthy fuselage shaping, flush inlet to shield engine blades from radar and V-tail.
MQ-25 is comprised of two major segments: The MQ-25 Air System (air vehicle),
and the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System (UMCS), the system required
for carrier integration and command and control of the MQ-25 air vehicle and payload.
MQ-25 will be a critical part of the future Carrier Air Wing
and is central to the US Navy’s strategic Unmanned Campaign Framework, laying the foundation
for all future carrier-based unmanned systems
and pioneering the cutting-edge manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) operational concept.
Eventually, all Nimitz and Ford-class carriers will be certified to operate MQ-25.
Aircraft carrier flight decks are busy places with no margin for error,
so intense testing will be undertaken. Any problem could lead to loss of life
and damage to multi-million-dollar aircrafts present in the deck.
It can be assumed that US Navy will continue with this testing till it is fully satisfied.
The US Navy says the MQ-25 will be an important part of future carrier air wings,
by providing an aerial refueling capability that will extend the range of air wing aircraft.
Till now the US navy was dependent on land-based tankers and this created tactical constraints.
With MQ-25, the range of carrier-based aircraft will
increase drastically enabling them to be launched from supercarriers that are much
further away from the target and beyond the strike envelop of a rival's anti-ship missile systems.
The increase in combat radius will provide much
more tactical freedom when executing strike missions.
It is evident that MQ-25 will be a crucial asset for US Navy.