{"id":41334,"date":"2018-08-30T21:44:58","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T21:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/08\/30\/us-navy-selects-builder-for-new-mq-25-stingray-aerial-refueling-drone\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:19:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:19:51","slug":"us-navy-selects-builder-for-new-mq-25-stingray-aerial-refueling-drone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2018\/08\/30\/us-navy-selects-builder-for-new-mq-25-stingray-aerial-refueling-drone\/","title":{"rendered":"US Navy selects builder for new MQ-25 Stingray aerial refueling drone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Navy has awarded Boeing an $805 million dollar contract to build 4 MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aerial vehicles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Boeing has seized the Navy\u2019s MQ-25 tanker drone contract, a major victory for a company that has in recent years struggled to win combat aircraft awards, marking a major step toward a new kind of carrier air wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $805 million contract covers the design, development, fabrication, test and delivery of four Stingray aircraft, a program the service expects will cost about $13 billion overall for 72 aircraft, said Navy acquisition boss James Geurts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The award to Boeing kicks off what the Navy would is aiming to be a six-year development effort moving toward a 2024 declaration of initial operational capability. At the end, it will mark a historic integration of drones into the Navy\u2019s carrier air wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navy has traversed a long and complicated road in trying to develop a UAS that would fly on and off its aircraft carriers. It first envisioned UCLASS as a surveillance and strike asset, but the program was canceled in 2016 after stakeholders including the Navy, the office of the secretary of defense and Congress publicly butted heads over the requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the effort to field a carrier drone was reborn that year as an unmanned tanker that could double the range of the carrier air wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ll look back on this day and recognize it as a pretty historic event,\u201d Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom an operational standpoint we are putting our feet in the water in a big way of integrating unmanned with manned into the air wing,\u201d he said, adding that getting the Stingray into the fleet will free up the Hornets now dedicated to the tanking mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the MQ-25 contract would have been a massive win for any of the competitors, which also included Lockheed Martin and General Atomics, it holds special meaning for Boeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\t