MQ-25 and the Unmanned Tanker

You will learn how the United States Navy turned a carrier drone study into a dedicated unmanned tanker and what flight tests have already shown. If you follow hoses, drogues and offload math, the short answer is that the Boeing MQ-25 Stingray is built to give fuel from the carrier deck so Super Hornets do not have to.

You can read this program as a refueling decision first and a drone decision second. The aircraft described here resulted from the Carrier-Based Aerial-Refueling System program, which grew out of the earlier Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike program. On 30 August 2018, the United States Navy announced Boeing as the winning selection, and the type first flew on 19 September 2019.

Why the carrier needed an organic unmanned tanker

When you plan carrier strikes, tanking eats airplanes. The Navy discussion quoted for this period says 20 to 30 percent of Super Hornets were performing the refueling mission. Moving that work to a purpose built unmanned aircraft frees those fighters for other tasks and does the job in a more capable and cost effective manner than modifying the F-35, V-22 Osprey and E-2D Hawkeye, or returning the retired S-3 Viking to service. That is the why behind the tanker first choice. An unmanned aircraft can hold a refueling track, take repeated hookups and stay fitted for deck handling without tying up a crewed strike fighter.

The range logic is easy to picture from your planning table. The material cites an unrefueled Super Hornet combat radius of 450 nmi and a goal of extending it to beyond 700 nmi with MQ-25 support. The Navy goal quoted for the aircraft is to be able to deliver 15,000 lb of fuel total to 4 to 6 airplanes at a range of 500 nmi. If you work with offload charts, you recognize the pattern at once. Distance, number of receivers and pounds per receiver trade against each other, and the tanker exists to push usable radius outward.

What changed between UCLASS and CBARS?

The Navy began efforts to develop a carrier based unmanned aircraft in 2006. The original UCLASS concept was for a stealthy strike platform capable of penetrating enemy air defenses. In 2012, lethality and strike requirements were diluted in order to create an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance oriented aircraft that could be developed quickly for low intensity counter terrorism missions. Then on 1 February 2016, reporting said significant priority would go to a Super Hornet sized carrier based aerial refueling tanker as the Carrier-Based Aerial-Refueling System, with a little ISR and some communications relay capability, while strike capabilities were put off to a future variant.

The funding reason is stated plainly. The Pentagon made the change to address the expected fighter shortfall by directing funds to buy more F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and accelerate purchases of the F-35C. Having CBARS as the first carrier based unmanned aircraft also provided a less complex bridge to the future F/A-XX, should it be an unmanned strike platform. It answered a carrier need for an organic refueling aircraft, proposed for UCLASS since 2014. Four development contracts were issued in 2016, with a formal request for proposals expected in 2017 and operational status in the early to mid 2020s. In July 2016 it was officially named MQ-25A Stingray after being named RAQ-25A previously.

Who offered what for the tanker competition?

The Navy released the final MQ-25 Stingray request for proposals in October 2017 to Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Atomics. Boeing had secretly finished its wing body tail airframe in 2014 when UCLASS was paused and revived it for the CBARS mission. On 19 December 2017, Boeing unveiled its prototype entrant that incorporated lessons learned from the Boeing Phantom Ray flying wing and its other unmanned aerial systems. The company position noted in the page is that its design is not new for the tanking mission, but that tanking was considered when designing it.

The other concepts show how open the trade space still was. General Atomics proposed its Sea Avenger concept, enlarged from its Predator-C Avenger for refueling, while Lockheed Martin proposed its Sea Ghost concept based on the RQ-170 Sentinel. Northrop Grumman announced on 25 October 2017 that it was withdrawing its X-47B from the competition, saying the company would have been unable to execute the program under the terms of the request for proposals. The departure led some analysts to read the requirements as favoring wing body tail designs over the flying wings thought to be proposed by Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

How did testing prove the refueling connection?

The award fixed the program shape. On 30 August 2018, the Navy announced Boeing as winner and awarded an 805 million dollar development contract for four MQ-25A aircraft to be completed by August 2024. An additional three test MQ-25As were ordered on 2 April 2020 for a current total order of seven. The program may expand to 13 billion dollars overall and consist of 72 aircraft. Those figures matter because they explain why early flight work used a small company owned test fleet before production aircraft arrived.

In late April 2019, the first MQ-25 test aircraft, T-1 or Tail 1, was taken by road from the Boeing technical plant at St. Louis Lambert International Airport across the Mississippi River to MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, which is conjoined to Scott Air Force Base. After taxi tests, the Federal Aviation Administration certified the aircraft and granted airspace for flight testing, and the MQ-25 took its first flight on 19 September 2019. In December 2020, Boeing released video showing the first flight of the MQ-25 with a Cobham aerial refueling store externally mounted. The detailed sequence is laid out in the Stingray carrier drone program history with dates, places and receiver types.

On 4 June 2021, the first refueling test was conducted, with the MQ-25 providing fuel to an F/A-18F Super Hornet. The MQ-25 originated at MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois, with support by Air Test and Evaluation Squadron VX-23. The mission lasted about 4.5 hours, with the two aircraft performing numerous dry or wet connects for more than 10 minutes and 325 pounds of fuel transferred in total. Further refueling tests were performed with the E-2 and F-35C. If you fly the hose basket and coupling method in simulation, those dry contacts will look familiar. The wet pass is the same geometry with fuel flowing.

What does the airframe look like to a spotter?

You will pick out a straight wing, a V tail and the Cobham aerial refueling store mounted under the wing when it is in tanker fit, the placement Boeing gives in its coverage of the December 2020 first flight with the store. The listed dimensions are a length of 51.0 ft, a wingspan of 75.0 ft extended and 31.3 ft folded, and a height of 9.8 ft extended and 15.7 ft folded. Folding matters on a carrier deck because spot factor decides how many aircraft fit on a crowded deck edge and in the hangar. The page lists power from one Rolls-Royce AE 3007N turbofan delivering 10,000 lbf of thrust, a variant of the engine used to power the Navy MQ-4C Triton. Listed performance gives a range of 500 nmi when delivering 16,000 lb or more of fuel.

Although the aircraft is less stealthy than flying wing unmanned aircraft, it features stealthy fuselage shaping, a flush inlet to shield engine blades from radar, and a V tail. Images of a model released in April 2024 showed AGM-158C LRASM anti ship missiles on the underwing hardpoints. The model also showed an electro optical sensor ball under the nose in front of the forward landing gear. Armament is listed as two under wing stations for two AGM-158C LRASM weapons, with the Cobham Aerial Refueling Store listed as the refueling fit. The contrast with fighters tanking fighters is useful here. A buddy store on a Super Hornet shares fuel the fighter could have burned itself, while this drone brings fuel whose main job is to give away.

Where will the squadrons live and work?

The Navy established Unmanned Carrier Launched Multi-Role Squadron 10, VUQ-10, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, on 1 October 2022, where four MQ-25s are being used for testing and development of maintenance and operations procedures. VUQ-10 serves as the Fleet Replacement Squadron for the MQ-25 and Lockheed Martin Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control Station utilized to pilot the air vehicle. Earlier planning had discussed VUQ-10 in October 2021 with four aircraft at Naval Base Ventura County, which includes Naval Air Station Point Mugu, and as of 2024 the unit was slated to move to Naval Air Station Point Mugu.

One operational unit, VUQ-11, was established on 1 April 2026, intended to be permanently stationed at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California following delivery of operational aircraft and conclusion of developmental test, and another operational unit, VUQ-12, is planned for a later date. Operators data lists 76 aircraft planned for the United States Navy, with VUQ-10 as Fleet Replacement Squadron and VUQ-11 and VUQ-12 as planned squadrons. The Navy conducted the first flight of a developmental MQ-25 in April 2026, approved low rate initial production in May 2026, and estimated continued flight tests until the end of fiscal year 2029, later than initially planned.

What still limits what you can conclude?

The Wikipedia page does not publish a cruise speed. You still get enough to understand deck footprint, engine type, tanker store, receiver types tested and squadron structure, but you do not get a full performance polar or a fuel system schematic. Treat the 15,000 lb goal and the 16,000 lb range figure as program targets tied to specific range conditions, not as promises for every load, altitude and sea state. Carrier refueling changes with wind over deck, tanker recovery timing and how many receivers check in at once.

The Stingray remains in development, with test aircraft, a Fleet Replacement Squadron building procedures, and production ramping after Milestone approval. If you want to keep the thread straight, watch VUQ-10 procedures, VUQ-11 deliveries at Point Mugu and the announced VUQ-12 standup date. You can lay the folded span and height beside a deck parking plan, list the F/A-18F, E-2 and F-35C hookups in order, and track each new test report against the 500 nmi offload target.

The cited Wikipedia page is titled Boeing MQ-25 Stingray. It presents general data, program background from UCLASS to CBARS, selection and flight test history, design notes and squadron history with specifications for dimensions, engine, range with fuel given away and stores carried. You can use its reference list to verify the contract award, first flight and carrier squadron dates before you log them in your own fleet notes.