Posted on 09/14/2021 12:54:33 PM PDT by American Number 181269513
The Boeing prototype MQ-25A T1 unmanned carrier tanker refueled an F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter as part of early testing for the program, Naval Air Systems Command announced on Tuesday.
The F-35C, assigned to the “Salty Dogs” of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23, and the MQ-25 flew from MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah, Ill., near Boeing’s facility in St. Louis for the test flights.
The fighter and the “Stingray” prototype drone tanker “performed formation evaluations, wake surveys, drogue tracking and plugged with the MQ-25 test asset at 225 knots calibrated airspeed (KCAS) and altitude of 10,000 feet. From the ground control station, an air vehicle operator then initiated the fuel transfer from T1’s aerial refueling store to the F-35C,” according to a statement from NAVAIR.
The refueling follows tests of an F/A-18F Super Hornet in June and an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye last month.
“Following this flight, T1 will enter into a modification period to integrate the deck handling system in preparation for a shipboard demonstration this winter. To date, T1 has conducted 36 flights, providing the program with valuable information on aerodynamics, propulsion, guidance and control in advance of the MQ-25 engineering and manufacturing development aircraft deliveries,” NAVAIR said. “As unmanned tanking capacity increases, the manned tanker requirement decreases, promoting additional service life and capacity available for manned strike-fighter missions.”
The Stingrays will deliver up to 15,000 pounds of fuel 500 nautical miles away from the carrier and will relieve the tanker burden on the existing Super Hornet fleet, USNI News has reported.
A Norfolk, Va., deck handling demonstration on a carrier in port will be the last set of tests for the prototype Boeing built in 2014 as the company’s bid for the canceled Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program. The company repurposed the airframe for the aerial refueling mission and won an $805 million contract in 2018 to build the first four Stingrays in a competition that also included General Atomics and Lockheed Martin. Last year, the Navy exercised an $84.7 million contract to buy three more, with a goal of a fleet of 76 for $1.3 billion.
The EMD models, set to enter the fleet next year, will be fully capable of operating at sea – unlike the prototype.
The aircraft will be folded into the airwing’s E-2D and carrier onboard delivery communities. The fleet replacement squadron, Unmanned Carrier-Launched Multi-Role Squadron (VUQ) 10 will stand up later this year and be followed by carrier-deployed VUQ-11 and 12.
Mida air refueling is impressive. Doing it with a drone is a flex move. Will we ever see mid air rearming?
Soon every two-bit air force in the world will be able to afford mid-air refueling.
We need “lasers”…
Where do they swipe the credit card?
Did Sleepy46 leave any of those tankers for the tallyband?
I’d like to see a tanker version of the V-22 Osprey tilt rotor, able to take off from something other than a carrier and refuel our jets.
Something about the pic.......
All the drone has to do is fly straight and level. It's the receiving pilot that does all of the hard work.
I would only be concerned that the MQ-25A, being as small as it is, would get tossed around more in rough weather than a larger and heavier aircraft, making it more difficult for the receiving aircraft to connect with the drogue basket.
Not sure that the large rotors on a V-22 in airplane mode would make for a stable drogue.
We're replacing the C-2 Greyhounds with V-22s for Carrier Onboard Delivery duties, so I'd like to see some of the lowest time C-2s converted to tankers.
What good is this capability in a woke military? It’s not like we’re going to fight anyone or make an effort to counter any aggression, after all.
Gotta keep the Woke Military-Industrial Complex fed.
Generals and Admirals need cushy jobs in the private aerospace sector to go to after they retire from the military.
That is not an unmanned drone - that’s sexist. It’s a differently-personed Aircraft Of Color.
Wish that was a joke.
No windows... So how does the unman see where he’s going?
100% correct. The expenditures have nothing to do with military readiness; it just enriches those engaged in expanding the lucrative Military-Industrial Complex.
As Will Rogers might say today “We have the best military money can buy.”
Post of the Day!!!!!!!!!!
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