The United States Navy is actively looking into a carrierborne aerial tanker aircraft of unmanned design - and the usual industry players have taken note.
The United States Navy (USN) has evolved their UCLASS requirement - a combat-capable, carrierbased unmanned attack system - to become an unmanned aerial tanker platform. Current contenders include Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and General Atomics (Northrop has removed itself from the running). A design decision is expected before the end of 2018 and the service expects to procure in the neighborhood of seventy-two air vehicles for the unmanned fuel delivery role. Below are all of the current and formaer contenders in the program. There are a total of [ 4 ] MQ-25 Stingray Competition entries in the Military Factory. Entries are listed below in alphanumeric order (1-to-Z). Flag images indicative of country of origin and not necessarily the primary operator.
PROGRAM UPDATE: The United States Navy has selected Boeing as the winner of the MQ-25 Stingray competition. A contract covering four vehicles will be issued initially with deliveries of the MQ-25A developmental form to happen in 2020. A first-flight will take place in 2021 and service entry is scheduled for the early part of 2024.
The "Military Factory" name and MilitaryFactory.com logo are registered ® U.S. trademarks protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws. All written content, illustrations, and photography are unique to this website (unless where indicated) and not for reuse/reproduction in any form. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value only and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation. We do not sell any of the items showcased on this site. Please direct all other inquiries to militaryfactory AT gmail.com. No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.
