Latest news with #MQ-25Stingray
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MidAmerica STL Airport expands with general aviation facility
MASCOUTAH, Ill. – There is more expansion here at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport as their new general aviation facility is taking shape. 'In the Summer of 2023, we finished the 42-thousand-square-foot expansion of the original terminal,' said Darren James, airport director of MidAmerica St. Louis Airport. 'Now with the addition of this another 25,000 square feet. To your point, the ability to serve more passengers and the community and international destinations is absolutely exciting.' The facility, being constructed in two phases, will enable the airport to process international and commercial flights. Just down at the end of the runway is the new Boeing facility, where the MQ-25 Stingray will be built. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now 'We've had more capacity and more passengers in March than we ever had,' James said. 'We had 40,000 passengers come through and we expect the same through summertime. They are working to increase the number of destinations and flights available for travelers in the future, with the right infrastructure in place to help. 'We'll continue to talk with different airlines,' James said. 'Right now, Allegiant is seeking a partnership with Viva Aerobus, a Mexican airline. But other airlines like Sun Country, Velo and Frontier are all going to the areas we look to serve. So we'll continue having discussions with the airlines.' Construction on phase 4a began in summer 2024 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Asia Times
10-04-2025
- Asia Times
US Navy's carrier drone delay handing the domain to China
As the US Navy cautiously inches toward carrier-based unmanned aircraft, China is racing ahead with stealthy naval drones, threatening to tilt the balance of power in the Pacific. This month, The War Zone (TWZ) reported that Rear Admiral Michael 'Buzz' Donnelly of the US Navy's Air Warfare Division outlined a restrained approach to Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs) at the recent Sea Air Space symposium in Washington, DC. While working with the US Air Force and Marine Corps, the Navy prioritizes the MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone and its operational integration over carrier-based CCAs. Donnelly explained that the Air Force leads in air vehicle and autonomy development, while the Marines emphasize manned-unmanned teaming via the F-35B. The Navy, trailing its US military counterparts, focuses on infrastructure and autonomy insights gained from the MQ-25. Carrier-specific integration challenges continue to hinder deployment despite the high potential of CCAs. Donnelly projected that initial CCA designs might emerge by the 2030s, contingent on the MQ-25's operational success. He noted the Navy favors more affordable, disposable drones over the Air Force's costly high-end CCAs. However, progress on classified Navy drone initiatives remains largely opaque. China's rapid advances in stealth unmanned carrier-based aircraft underscore the urgency for the US Navy to accelerate its efforts. Donnelly's remarks also raise concerns about the timeline for the F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter, envisioned to operate alongside CCAs. The delays reflect broader challenges in adapting unmanned systems to naval aviation. According to Air & Space Forces Magazine, the Navy's CCAs will share a common architecture with the Air Force to enable greater interoperability. Yet, the unique demands of carrier operations present serious obstacles. In a November 2022 article for the Drones peer-reviewed journal, Zixuan Liu and co-authors underscore that aircraft carrier decks are more constrained, risk-prone and complex than land-based airfields. They note the necessity for precise coordination of aircraft categories, support equipment, and launch-recovery sequences to reduce collision risks, which are magnified when incorporating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Liu and colleagues stress that these constraints will require highly automated and optimized scheduling systems, especially as UAVs become more autonomous and numerous in carrier environments. Despite these challenges, the US Navy is taking preliminary steps toward integration. In August 2024, the Navy Times reported that the USS George H W Bush was outfitted with the first Unmanned Air Warfare Center (UAWC) to support MQ-25 operations. Similar upgrades are planned for the USS Carl Vinson, USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Ronald Reagan, signaling an institutional shift toward unmanned platforms. Following the MQ-25's full integration into carrier operations—projected for 2026—a 'Stingray to the Fight' program will expand the drone's capabilities, including the addition of an internal mission bay, according to Sam LaGrone in an April 2023 USNI News article. In the long term, the Navy aims for drones to comprise up to 60% of its carrier air wings, as Rear Admiral Gregory Harris noted in an April 2021 TWZ article. For now, the MQ-25 is the lynchpin of the Navy's unmanned aviation efforts. In a January 2025 TWZ article, Lew Callaway emphasizes the MQ-25's tanker role as critical to extending the range and persistence of carrier-based strike aircraft like the F/A-18. He points out that China's sophisticated air defenses and long-range missiles make traditional aerial tankers and island-based refueling stations increasingly vulnerable. The MQ-25 offers a more survivable alternative to sustain carrier operations deep into contested areas of the Pacific. However, the MQ-25's limitations as a strike platform are equally significant. In a July 2023 Proceedings article, Josh Hano notes that the drone was not designed for speed, stealth, or agility. While the aircraft could theoretically carry precision weapons in an internal bay, its structure and systems are ill-suited to evolve into a frontline unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV). Hano instead argues that the MQ-25 should evolve into a multirole support platform—performing anti-submarine operations (ASW), electronic warfare (EW), intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), or even acting as a decoy launcher to confuse enemy defenses. Strategically, the delay in the F/A-XX program casts a shadow over CCA development. Developing a complementary unmanned wing without the F/A-XX as a manned command aircraft doesn't make strategic sense. The F/A-XX is planned to replace the F/A-18 and serve as the backbone of future US carrier air wings, which are expected to enter service in the 2030s, but its timeline faces uncertainty. In March 2024, Breaking Defense reported that the Navy deferred approximately US$1 billion in FY2025 funding for F/A-XX research and development, citing a need to prioritize current fleet readiness. The decision reflects a broader struggle to balance immediate operational needs with long-term modernization. Part of the reluctance to commit significant funding may stem from recent procurement misfires. In a December 2024 article for 1945, Robert Farley links US Navy caution on the F/A-XX to a string of troubled programs, including the Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), Zumwalt-class destroyers, Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), and Constellation-class frigates. These projects were all plagued by cost overruns, shifting requirements and underwhelming performance, making policymakers wary of another costly gamble. Farley also suggests that the future of the F/A-XX is entangled with existential questions about aircraft carrier relevance. He references lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war, where large warships proved vulnerable and manned aircraft had limited operational impact. Such developments fuel skepticism about investing heavily in a carrier-based fighter that might lack a viable mission. The delays and hesitations risk handing the technological initiative to China. In a February 2022 Pacific Forum article, Loro Horta writes that no military now integrates drones as systematically as the People's Liberation Army (PLA). China treats drones as integral to its combat architecture, using them to compensate for weaknesses in manned platforms and to saturate adversaries with cost-effective systems. Conversely, US Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks acknowledged in a MIT Technology Review interview this month that the US faces difficulties in integrating drones into joint force operations and scaling production at the level China can achieve. In December 2023, TWZ reported that China's GJ-11 Sharp Sword UCAV had been observed at a PLA carrier test facility near a mockup of the Fujian-class carrier. The GJ-11's stealth profile, large internal bays and mission versatility (ISR, EW and strike) indicate it is a key element in China's naval drone plans. Launching such aircraft would require catapult-equipped carriers, such as the Fujian. PLA Navy (PLAN) destroyer commander Chi Jianjun, quoted in The Maritime Executive in January 2025, confirmed that drone platforms are being deployed across China's warships—from carriers and destroyers to amphibious assault vessels like the Type 75 and Type 76 classes. This widespread rollout reflects a coordinated effort to integrate unmanned systems into naval operations fully. As the US Navy treads carefully, slowed by strategic caution and budgetary friction, China's aggressive pursuit of stealthy naval drones threatens to redefine carrier warfare. Without a more decisive shift, the US risks falling behind in a domain it once dominated.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Yahoo
F/A-XX Will Have Just 25% More Range Than Existing Navy Fighters
The U.S. Navy expects its future F/A-XX sixth-generation stealth fighters to offer just a 25 percent increase in range over the existing tactical combat jets in its carrier air wings. The disclosure comes as a surprise given that the service consistently makes it clear that extending the reach of its carrier strike groups is a critical priority as the range of expected threats also continues to grow. F/A-XX is also being designed around the availability the organic aerial refueling capabilities that will come with the carrier-based MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone, which is expected to have significant range as TWZ has just explored in a new in-depth feature. Navy Rear Adm. Michael 'Buzz' Donnelly, head of the Air Warfare Division within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, talked about the expected range and other features of the F/A-XX with TWZ and other outlets on the sidelines of the Navy League's Sea Air Space 2025 exhibition earlier today. Following the reported ejection of Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman are now said to be face-to-face in the F/A-XX competition, the winner of which is expected to be announced soon. F/A-XX will offer 'probably over 125 percent of the range that we're seeing today to give us better flexibility operational reach,' Donnelly said. 'So it will definitely have longer inherent range.' Donnelly was subsequently asked explicitly if this meant '25 percent more capacity before you start adding in refueling,' to which he said 'yeah, affirm[itive].' Donnelly did not offer any specifics, but the F-35C carrier-based variant of the Joint Strike Fighter has the longest combat radius of any tactical jet in the Navy's current carrier air wings, which U.S. military sources put at around 670 nautical miles (close to 1,241 kilometers). This, in turn, would put the F/A-XX's expected maximum combat radius at roughly 837.5 nautical miles (just over 1,551 kilometers) F/A-XX will, 'of course, have refuel ability, and all of our air wings, our tactics, and what we're designing in the future considers organic refueling capability, so the F/A-XX will be able to leverage that,' Donnelly added. 'With refueling, you could say that's indefinite [range], as long as refueling is available.' Otherwise, F/A-XX will be able to 'penetrate threat airspace. That will pace the threat that we see into the future beyond 2040. So that's what we see as essential as the threat builds out its ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] capabilities and increases kinetic capabilities,' Donnelly also said. The sixth-generation carrier-based fighter 'will also, with the integration of AI [artificial intelligence] and other technical advantages, allow us to have increased battle space management. And it will be our next platform that, instead of being man-in-the-loop, will truly be man-on-the-loop, and allow us to have fully integrated architecture with our unmanned systems that we're going to be fielding.' Donnelly specifically mentioned teaming F/A-XX with future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), which could include types operated by the Navy and the U.S. Air Force, as well as larger uncrewed aircraft like the MQ-25. Acting as aerial 'quarterback for drones has long been a key expected mission for F/A-XX, as well as the Air Force's forthcoming F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) combat jet from Boeing. The Navy also has a now long-standing goal to deploy carrier air wings that are at least 60 percent uncrewed by the 2040s. The MQ-25 is set to serve as a 'pathfinder' for expanding uncrewed aircraft operations from Navy carriers and could itself evolve into a long-range multi-mission platform as you can read more about in detail here. As mentioned already, the revelation today about the F/A-XX's range is particularly notable. Rear Adm. Donnelly himself described the jet's expected tactical reach as 'an essential attribute,' despite it being a modest increase over existing capabilities. This all might also point a focus on higher performance or an aircraft that could be truncated in some way to help lower costs. Regardless, the Navy is already a facing threat ecosystem full of potential adversaries, especially near-peer ones like China, that can engage friendly forces in the air, at sea, and on the ground, further and further away. Just in January, the Air Force released a report that warned about the projected fielding of anti-air missiles with ranges of up to 1,000 miles by 2050. For the Navy, this increases the demand to extend the reach of the carrier air wing to help reduce the vulnerability of the entire strike group. Many had expected F/A-XX to have a much larger combat radius than the service's existing tactical jets for this reason, which would help further extend the buffer against future threats. The Navy has separately expressed an interest in finding new ways to extend the unrefueled reach of its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and its EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jets. 'Carriers, with their ability to move over 700 miles a day, creating 1.5 million square miles of uncertainty, that is an element of survivability that will continue to be extremely important,' Rear Adm. Donnelly also said at a separate panel discussion at the Sea Air Space 2025 exhibition today. 'And what will increase is the range and reach that our future air wings will provide.' 'Today, we have the ability, with the combination of the F-18 [F/A-18E/F] and the EA-18G Growler, as well as the F-35 and our weapons for an operational range that provides us an area of effect of over eight million square miles,' he continued. 'And when we look to the 2040s, with the integration of MQ-25 to provide organic refueling, platforms such as F/A-XX with extended range, the weapons we expect to field at that time, we expect that area of effect increase to over 11 million square miles.' 'That area of effect is important, because that's also the area of uncertainty for the air wing that enhances the survivability of the strike group, but it's also the tactical reality combined with the attributes of those platforms that allow us to penetrate into complex [environments], [with] ubiquitous ISR that the threat will continue to field, and be selective in our targeting so that we can be efficient and persist longer,' the rear admiral added. More clarity about the F/A-XX's overall capabilities, as well as how the aircraft fits into the Navy's broader carrier strike group plans, is likely to emerge when the winner of the competition is finally announced. We do know now that the service expects the sixth-generation stealth fighters, at least currently, to bring a relatively minor increase in unrefueled range to its future carrier air wings. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MQ-25 Stingray's Extreme Range Gives It Massive Potential Far Beyond A Tanker
Boeing's MQ-25 Stingray is behind schedule and over budget, but it is still set to up the carrier air wing's (CVW) aerial refueling game dramatically. According to the Navy, the service is basically getting a flying unmanned gas can that is optimized for cruising efficiently at subsonic jet speeds and loitering for extended periods. While there have been fragmented hints that it could execute other roles in the future, and it is already built with a secondary reconnaissance function via its under-nose sensor ball, its potential far beyond a tanker seems significantly underplayed. This appears to be by design, at least at this time. Simply put, the range and endurance, specifically, that the MQ-25 will give the carrier air wing is totally unprecedented and it could have huge impacts well outside of the scope of transferring gas. This little-discussed, but glaring added value should help with justifying the Stingray's huge cost. Currently, the MQ-25 is coming in at a price of around $130 million per copy with 76 on order. To its credit, the Navy also highlights that MQ-25 is a 'pathfinder' platform that will establish the critical procedures, supporting technologies and tactics, as well as onboard infrastructure, for operating all types of future higher-end drones from a carrier. Navy leadership has promised the production-representative MQ-25 will finally fly this year and be operating from a carrier in 2026 in a testing capacity. Exploiting the MQ-25's latent potential could also go a long way to help quell dissatisfaction after the Navy stepped away from its highly-promising multi-role unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) program, the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft, to procure what seemed like 'just a tanker' instead back in the mid 2010s. The Navy has confirmed to us that the MQ-25's core design requirement of being able to fly 500 miles from the carrier, offload 15,000 pounds of gas, and then come back to the boat is still in place. This will offer a lot of flexibility over the F/A-18E/F Super Hornets that reluctantly serve in the carrier-based tanker role today. The F/A-18E/F has a combat radius of around the same distance — 500 miles — that the MQ-25 is designed to go before dispensing more than a Super Hornet's entire internal fuel load to the thirsty fighters. As such, Stingrays will extend the organic reach of the air wing's tactical jets by an estimated 300 to 400 miles at a time when it needs it more than ever. The vastness of the Pacific theater has left the current range of the Navy's CVWs sorely lacking. The MQ-25 will also keep fighter aircraft patrolling on station far from the ship for longer and while carrying heavier weapons loads. This is an especially important aspect when executing fleet defense duties. The MQ-25's more mundane work orbiting over the carrier as a recovery tanker, which the Super Hornet fulfills today, will be their daily 'bread and butter' and will free up strike fighters to perform their primary mission sets and save precious airframe life on these high-performance aircraft. Roughly one-third of the Super Hornet's current utilization aboard the carrier is in the tanking role. So, the four squadrons of strike fighters aboard a supercarrier will have their core mission capacity expanded without adding more of the jets. The MQ-25s were intended to be able to remain aloft for at least three launch-recovery cycles, dropping down to provide fuel and then loitering up high between cycles. As such, they will also be far more flexible in this role as they have a lot of gas to give for a far longer period of time. They also won't have to regularly recover with the rest of the aircraft on every cycle like the Super Hornets generally do. All the attributes of the MQ-25s, along with their two stores pylons, offer huge additional opportunities. The fact that this aircraft can hold so much gas and runs on the efficient and proven Rolls-Royce AE 3007 turbofan, a variant of which also powers the RQ-4 Global Hawk, means it can stay aloft a long, long time when operating outside of the tanker mission set. This could include slowly loitering for maximum endurance while at a particular station far from the ship or over it. It can also include traversing huge distances at jet speeds and altitudes. While arming the MQ-25 with standoff cruise missiles has already been hinted at, and doing the same for additional sensor and networking systems in underwing pods is a future possibility, the big question is just how far and how long can an MQ-25 fly while not required to give away its own gas on a tanker mission? This is very important as the MQ-25 could be used to carry out missions very far from the carrier — thousands of miles away. On the other hand, it could also be used to loiter high above the carrier strike group for long periods, working as a critical sensor and networking platform. This endurance drastically exceeds that of the aerial refueling-capable E-2D Hawkeye and its crew, which fly now for up to seven hours on a sortie. The MQ-25, fitted with the right sensor and networking package, could potentially take on some of the Hawkeye's role and do it more efficiently and persistently. 'Look-down' radar data collected would be fed to air defense crews on Navy ships below for exploitation. It could also provide an elevated data-sharing gateway to keep the carrier strike group and other assets connected over extended distances without the use of beyond-line-of-sight satellite communications. While the MQ-25 wouldn't really be a replacement for the E-2, it could pick up the slack when its manned counterpart is not available and/or augment the E-2's sensor and networking reach during certain periods. We have reached out to Boeing, Rolls Royce, and the U.S. Navy in regards to the MQ-25's actual range, endurance, and fuel load. None were willing or authorized to provide us with that information. This may seem odd as it is just a basic specification, but, as noted earlier, it appears the powers that be are laser-focused on keeping the MQ-25 branded as an essential tanker, one that does not threaten any other mission sets that manned Navy aircraft communities want to retain. But the potential is glaringly there, and so is the demand. The Navy wants its carrier air wings made up of more drones than manned aircraft in the coming decade. Regardless, we can do some simple and very rough estimates on what the MQ-25 could provide in terms of range. Based on the 15,000 pounds of gas offload figure at 500 miles, it seems that the MQ-25 would have at least a similar internal fuel load as the RQ-4 Global Hawk, or around 17,300 pounds, and probably a bit more. Let's call it 18,500 pounds. The RQ-4, which is optimized for efficient high-altitude flight, can stay aloft for nearly a day and a half. The MQ-25 is not as well optimized for endurance and high-altitude operations, but its slender straight wing and streamlined fuselage certainly should be no slouch in this department. If we use a 1,200 pounds-per-hour fuel burn in cruise for the MQ-25, which is in line with commercial variants of the Rolls-Royce AE 3007 found on multiple aircraft, like the Citation X and Embraer-145, that equates to an endurance of nearly 16 hours while in cruise. Flying at 375 miles-per-hour, that turns into an unrefueled range of nearly 6,000-miles. Factoring in reserves and terminal operations, we can call it 5,500 miles. If it is sent to loiter on station at altitude, where lower power settings would be used, its endurance would be significantly longer. Once again, these are all rough, speculative numbers, but what should be clear is that the MQ-25 is an adaptable medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) jet-powered drone and this can be exploited dramatically by the Navy. There are also lingering questions of where the MQ-25's low observable (stealthy) features come from, as these elements were not in any way a requirement of the aforementioned Carrier-Based Aerial Refueling Systems (CBARS) program that gave birth to the MQ-25 Stingray. They were part of the aborted Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program that came before it. Boeing's MQ-25 did at least find very heavy influence from work done on that program, it would seem. Whether or not the company's T-1 MQ-25 demonstrator was reworked from a UCLASS configuration for CBARS remains unclear. We recently inquired with Boeing about the connective tissue between the MQ-25 and UCLASS or a similar carrier-borne UCAV concept. They said the following: 'The MQ-25 Stingray was influenced by the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program. During the MQ-25's development, we built upon the design elements and lessons learned from the UCLASS program to fit U.S. Navy's requirement for a carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can provide aerial refueling and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.' At least in broad strokes, the unrealized Multi-Role Endurance (MRE) initiative of the late 1990s seems to have some requirements commonality, as well. Minus the MQ-25's exotic blended inlet design, the concept art below from Lockheed Martin looks remarkably similar to the MQ-25 we know today. It is unknown if there is any relation, and it's unlikely that is the case. Lockheed Martin ended up pitching a flying wing design for CBARS. Regardless, these low-observable features, although not really capitalized on now for the tanker-optimized configuration, could come in very handy for future roles, particularly when operating against foes with increasingly advanced anti-access capabilities and especially extremely long-range air defenses. So, what does this all mean? It means the Navy can integrate the MQ-25 into its CVWs and, in doing so, blaze a trail for all unmanned operations from carriers in the future. In the process, it will also gain a platform that can be readily adopted for many other highly critical missions. This includes ones at can range across vast distances without putting a pilot at risk. While an advanced Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) may have a combat radius of 1,000 to 1,500 miles, the MQ-25 could act as the long arm of the air wing. Not just in terms of drone capabilities, but in general. Just using bolt-on stores, it could be used to surveil vast areas. It could deliver standoff weapons — such as cruise missiles and air-launched drones — thousands of miles from the carrier strike group. Paired with JASSM/LRASM, the MQ-25 could fly continental distances before releasing their standoff weapons, which would only add to the total strike range. They could also deploy swarms of smaller drones that could wreak havoc on naval groups from outside their air defense engagement ranges. They could act as remote sensor and relay platforms for airborne early warning and networking duties, or provide persistent electronic surveillance and warfare support, as well. The networking part could play a particularly key role for future CCA operations. The MQ-25 could also potentially act as a direct striker to provide surveillance and close air support in uncontested airspace. There is also the possibility that it could work in an anti-submarine/anti-surface warfare/sea control role. The latter concept of distributing aerial anti-submarine warfare duties across a broader set of carrier-based aircraft and centralizing the processing and decision-making part of the mission dates back deep into the Cold War, which you can read about here. Now, with sonobuoy pods available for MALE drones and work already being done on creating the networking scheme to enable these kinds of activities, MQ-25 could play a central anti-submarine role in the future. Providing such a capability would help fill the vast hole left by the retirement of the S-3 Viking in an age of growing submarine threats. Today, nearly all organic aerial anti-submarine warfare duties the carrier strike group executes are done by MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopters. Finally, the Stingray even could work in a cargo-carrying capacity, to deliver small time-sensitive parts and other cargoes to the carrier from destinations thousands of miles away in a pinch — much farther than what the troubled CMV-22 Osprey could accomplish. CCAs are also being eyed for this role, but they wouldn't have the range or payload capacity that an MQ-25 could offer. This could prove essential during a conflict in the Pacific, where keeping the air wing and ships in the strike group running under extreme circumstances will become more challenging over time. Beyond bolt-on stores for adding capabilities, the MQ-25 airframe is clearly adaptable. It has a large internal volume for fuel. Sacrificing some of that gas could allow sensors to be embedded within its form factor. Conformal radar arrays could give the aircraft even more powerful sensor capabilities than what podded systems can provide and without the drag penalty from an external system. These arrays could provide traditional radar functions, as well as electronic attack and long-range communications. A weapons bay could also be very useful, if a variant of the MQ-25 were built to take on more significant kinetic roles. It isn't clear if the aircraft has a weapons bay now — possibly a latent capability that was ported over from UCLASS — or at least if its design could have one easily added. It clearly has the volume for one. In the end, the MQ-25's range, which comes as a byproduct of its refueling mission genesis, could and should make it extremely valuable in a Pacific fight. It gives the carrier its own platform that can really reach out very far to do a whole slew of things. This potential, as well as the aforementioned work it will do to blaze an unmanned carrier operations trail for other drones to follow it, could make it the most important naval aircraft of an era — one far more important than a tanker alone. Contact the author: Tyler@
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Yahoo
Carrier Air Wing's Key Priorities To Win In Future Pacific Fight Laid Out By Navy
U.S. Navy officials have laid out several priorities they say are key to ensuring the service's carrier air wings will be able to succeed in future conflicts, especially a high-end fight in the Pacific. The MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone, which will help provide critical range extension and persistence for other aircraft, is the centerpiece of those efforts. New long-range weapons, advanced platforms that can penetrate deep into dense enemy air defense environments, and robust networks to support the kill chains that underpin all of this are also essential to the Navy's current carrier-based airpower vision. Navy officers talked about the service's carrier fleets and their air wings during a panel discussion, which TWZ attended, earlier today at the WEST 2025 conference. 'MQ-25, plus long-range weapons and kill chains, plus a robust command and control, and platforms that can gain access to contested environments, are the vision and the key to the future of the carrier air wing to be able to operate out in the Pacific,' Capt. Lew Callaway, head of the Strike Aircraft and Weapons Branch within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations' Air Warfare Division, said. 'I want to pivot to the MQ-25 because it's the nearest, most important capability that we're going to field in order to extend the range and the persistence of the carrier air wing.' Extending the reach of other aircraft in carrier air wing, as well as eliminating the need to use crewed F/A-18F Super Hornets in the tanker role, are the stated primary missions for the MQ-25. The Stingrays will also have a secondary intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. Though not mentioned explicitly during today's panel at WEST 2025 there has also been talk about using the MQ-25, or future variants thereof, as a carrier-based standoff strike platform. Range and persistence have long been important considerations for carrier aviation operations, but are increasingly more so as threat air defense ecosystems grow. In addition to the growing risks they present to carrier-based aircraft, work by potential adversaries like China to expand their air defenses, as well as long-range strike capabilities, could easily limit access to land-based tankers that Navy carrier air wings, especially their shorter-legged tactical jets, often rely on today. The availability of bases on the ground, or lack thereof, could put further constraints on traditional aerial refueling support, especially during operations across the broad expanses of the Pacific. Last year, the Navy notably put out a contracting notice expressing interest in options for extending the unrefueled range of its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters and EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jets. In recent years, the service has also been fielding E-2D Hawkeye airborne early warning and control aircraft with new inflight refueling capability. The MQ-25 program has been beset by delays and cost growth for years now. Navy Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, the Air Force's top aviation officer, said separately at WEST 2025 that the service expects the first production representative Stingray to make its maiden flight before the end of this year and to fly from the deck of an actual carrier in 2026, according to Breaking Defense. Various ground and flight testing has already occurred using a demonstrator drone and the Navy has been otherwise working to lay the groundwork for the Stingray's arrival. This includes the integration of new dedicated uncrewed aviation control centers on its carriers, which the service has made clear will be able to support additional pilotless platforms in the future. 'One of the primary goals of MQ-25 is just going to be, for the first time, to integrate unmanned aviation into the air plan, into the day-to-day [operational tempo], so it just becomes second nature,' Capt. Lew said today. 'And we're going to take a sequential mindset when it comes to follow-on unmanned vehicles.' 'MQ-25 is absolutely the Navy's push to make sure that we have demonstrated you can take an unmanned platform and put it on a carrier, but demonstration is way different than operating every single day,' Rear Adm. Keith Hash, head of the Naval Air Warfare Center's Weapons Division and another one of the panelists, added. 'I think we're positioning ourselves so when MQ 25 starts flying this year, gets ready to go to the carrier in the near future, you know, we will make that robust. And when other options come along … [we] will be ready to accelerate those into the carrier environment [and] into other environments.' The Navy has a long-standing goal for its air wings to be up to 60 percent uncrewed in the future. Last year, the service also outlined a vision for a future fleet of lower-cost carrier-capable drones that might even be cheap enough to be optionally expendable, as you can read more about here. In addition, the Navy and the Air Force have a formal agreement to develop common architectures that will allow for the seamless exchange of control of uncrewed platforms between the services during future operations. Work on advanced uncrewed carrier-based aviation capabilities has exploded globally in recent years, as has potential interest in doing so. China is notably pursuing at least one stealthy flying wing-type uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV), the GJ-11 Sharp Sword, variants or derivatives of which look increasingly set to fly from at least some of the country's carriers, as well as its new super-sized Type 076 amphibious assault ship. The U.S. military has no known analog to the GJ-11, land or carrier-based, having abandoned similar efforts, including the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program that preceded the MQ-25, around a decade ago. The United Kingdom, Turkey, and others are also actively pursuing different tiers of carrier-based drones. For the U.S. Navy, as Capt. Lew noted, drones are only one part of a larger vision for the future of the service's carrier air wings. 'Long range weapons are probably [coming] right after the MQ-25 in time frame,' Lew said. That is a 'capability that gets us access anywhere we want, whether it be in the [Indo-]Pacific Command's AOR [area of responsibility] … [or] wherever we need to put ordnance on target.' Lew did not elaborate on the munitions or types of munitions in question. Last year, the Navy did formally unveil an air-launched version of its ship-launched multi-purpose SM-6 called the AIM-174B. The service has also said the missile is in at least limited service now with its Super Hornets being the current launch platform. TWZ has previously laid out in detail how the AIM-174B will be an especially key part of countering still expanding Chinese anti-access and area denial capabilities. The Navy is also looking to field air-launched air-breathing hypersonic anti-ship cruise missiles no later than 2029. Future versions of the missile being developed under the Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (HALO) program could arm the service's ships and submarines. There is the potential for it to be adapted for use against targets on land, as well. The AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended (AARGM-ER) and the AGM-158C-3 version of the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) are also set to join the Navy's air-launched arsenal in the coming years. Additional work is ongoing in the classified realm, as well. In terms of penetrating platforms for future carrier air wings, the Navy is pushing ahead with plans for a new sixth-generation crewed stealth combat jet, referred to currently as F/A-XX. The service said last October that it was getting close to picking a winning F/A-XX design and the hope is that the first examples will begin entering service in the 2030s. F/A-XX is set to replace the F/A-18E/F and the EA-18G, but both of those existing aircraft are currently expected to continue serving into the 2040s. F-35C Joint Strike Fighters, E-2 Hawkeyes, CMV-22 Osprey tilt-rotors, and MH-60 Seahawk helicopters are also set to remain parts of the Navy's carrier air wings for years to come. As the carrier air wing's reach and other capabilities grow, the need for new and improved networking capabilities will only increase. This is something TWZ has explored in-depth in the past. 'We really need to be clear and understanding of the communications and the command and control and the enablers of that long-range kill chain that happens both after you go down the [catapult] shuttle [to launch off the carrier to] after you pull the trigger,' Capt. Lew said. 'We are adjusting and learning and growing and turning inside the circle of those who might bring harm to our folks and to our commerce and lines of communication, and so we're working diligently on setting up our own long-range fires, kill chains, making them robust,' Rear Adm. Hash added. In addition, 'can't get into the details, as you can imagine … but there's activity along the way to make sure that we can operate in a contested electronic warfare environment, that we have got use of that spectrum, and that we can prevent that spectrum from impacting us, giving us opportunity to surge in and surge out.' Altogether, the Navy's future carrier air wing plans continue to coalesce a vision that has longer reach and greater persistence and that is more uncrewed, lethal, and interconnected than ever before. Contact the author: joe@
