The Department of the Navy is seeking $16.2 billion in fiscal year 2025 for aircraft procurement, with a part of the budget intended for low-rate initial production of the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aircraft, according to Secretary of the Navy and 2024 Wash100 winner Carlos Del Toro.
The MQ-25 will operate from aircraft carriers and work to enhance the lethality and striking range of carrier air wings by providing an unmanned in-air refueling capability, Del Toro told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.
Boeing, the developer of the refueling drone, delivered the first Stingray unit to the Navy for testing in February, The Defense Post reports. Following delivery, the unit would undergo airframe integrity evaluation, Boeing had said on X.
Just recently, the aerospace company conducted a virtual demonstration showcasing the ability of a software it had developed to enable manned-unmanned teaming between an MQ-25 and an F-18 fighter aircraft.
Using the software, the operator of a simulated F-18 instructed an MQ-25, also simulated, to engage in in-air refueling. The MQ-25 was originally designed to receive instructions from operators aboard aircraft carriers.
Although the MQ-25 is envisioned as an aerial refueler, talks are already underway between the Navy and Boeing on the possibility of the aircraft to take on other missions, according to one company official.
Troy Rutherford, a vice president and the MQ-25 program manager at Boeing, told Breaking Defense in an interview in April that the ability “to haul weapons or sensors” is baked into the design of the Stingray because it was originally meant to be an offer for the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier-Launched Strike & Surveillance program, which is now defunct.
To demonstrate possible alternate configurations of the MQ-25, Boeing showcased a variant of the aircraft at the Sea Air Space conference in April bearing Long Range Anti-Surface Missiles made by Lockheed Martin.
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