Boeing's MQ-25 wins...

via USNI News.

 Boeing will build the first unmanned aircraft to be a permanent part of the U.S. Navy’s carrier air wing, Navy officials announced Thursday.

Under the $805-million contract, Boeing will “provide the design, development, fabrication, test, verification, certification, delivery, and support of four MQ-25A unmanned air vehicles, including integration into the carrier air wing to provide an initial operational capability to the Navy,” according to the contract announcement.

The Navy plans for the first four Stingrays to achieve initial operational capability on carrier decks in 2024, an acceleration compared to previous IOC estimates. 

Wow.

Boeing wins this contract and will remain a player in the defense industry.  I really do believe that this is one of those "sneaky" contracts that will let the Navy get back into the deep strike business.

An ISR variant is an almost given.

All aircraft are slated to be shooters in the Navy's Net Fire scheme so its also a given that they will be armed at some point.  After that the sky is literally the limit.

 Remember what David said from the movie Prometheus (or if you're a fan of the classics Lawrence of Arabia)...Big things have small beginnings...