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Boeing MQ-25 Stingray

The History of the Boeing MQ-25 Stingray

The MQ-25 Stingray is an ongoing project by the United States Navy (USN) to produce an unmanned aerial tanker product for use by its vast aircraft carrier fleet. Program requirements include a fuel load of at least 14,000 pounds and a long range of 500 miles from the main vessel.

The current (2018) competitors for the Stingray program are Boeing, General Atomics and Lockheed Martin. Northrop Grumman voluntarily withdrew from the competition in 2017 -- it was supposed to show its top-of-the-line X-47B carrier-based drone in the filing. The U.S.

Navy hopes to deploy the Stingray to the operational level by the middle of the next decade, around 2025, with a formal selection scheduled for August 2018. Boeing is also part of General Atomics' program to better help secure potentially lucrative MQ-25 contracts.

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) exploded in the military in the 2000s, so it was not enough that the United States Navy (USN) was looking for unmanned aerial tankers that could be deployed on the decks of its various aircraft carriers Surprisingly. What started as the US Navy's Unmanned Carrier Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLAS) program has now evolved into the Carrier Airborne Refueling System (CBARS).

The product was officially designated the MQ-25 "Stingray" in July 2016.

Boeing documents from their secretive "Phantom Works" subsidiary appear to have been influenced in part by the company's earlier work on the UCLASS attack drone - a requirement actually developed by the US Navy for the purpose of Is to become an unmanned tanker project. Boeing announced the new aircraft in a press release on December 19, 2017, featuring a mixed-wing fuselage design and returning main aircraft. The rear wing consists of a pair of outwardly sloping surfaces. The chassis is a tricycle arrangement with wheels for ground running, with a single wheel on each main leg, while the front legs are reinforced with a dual wheel configuration. The fuselage is rounded and streamlined, though distinctly deep from the front profile - designed to carry the required avionics, engines and fuel storage.

Folding wings are assumed in the design, as this is a requirement for carrier-based aircraft considering space constraints, etc.

For carrier operations, the MQ-25 must navigate the crowded decks of active aircraft carriers, moving from elevator to catapult launch, and from deck to elevator when the mission returns. Achieving this requires a uniquely intelligent programming approach. Additionally, the aircraft will serve the various USN aircraft in the game for most of its life cycle - presenting another set of challenges for the engineers associated with the project.

In addition, the aircraft acquires the usual naval aviation qualities - a reinforced structure/substructure to withstand the rigors of life on a carrier, a special exterior coating to resist the Aral Sea environment, day and night operation capability, and snap hooks for carrier deck landings. All except autonomous operation and fuel delivery when working with manned aircraft.

Required to refuel all US Navy aircraft in service (and the upcoming F-35C Lightning II), the Stingray represents a major step forward in the future of naval aviation - enabling seaplanes to refuel quickly, And unmanned aerial vehicles can efficiently refuel autonomous aircraft. The aircraft allows for fuel load conversions, such as those done on the F/A-18 E and F models, to convert back to their combat form.

In addition to its refueling capability, the MQ-25 is also designed to serve in an auxiliary ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) role, carrying radars for naval operations in support of the main fleet.

With the Stingray joining its ranks, the US Navy plans to maintain its large inventory of F/A-18 Super Hornets and the newly arrived F-35 Lightning II for the attack role, and no longer rely on manned aircraft, Tanker, built on the existing fighter frame. Stingray is used for aerial refueling of various U.S.

Navy operating platforms, including the above types.

Currently (Dec 2017) Boeing says the MQ-25 is in the final stages of engine testing and baseline operations. A deck handling demo is planned for sometime in 2018. The deadline for the U.S. Navy to submit in the Stingray program is January 3, 2018.

The service plans to procure approximately 72 MQ-25 Stingray drones for active duty on its carrier decks by the end of the year.

The Boeing concept was partially revealed in December 2017, although it has been around since November 2014 and was born on paper in 2011. Captured images were subsequently released in January 2018, and official images followed in March 2018. The Boeing MQ-25 prototype (referred to as "T1") is currently (2018) undergoing carrier value trials and has not graduated as of this writing

The performance and dimensions given on this page are the author's estimates.