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| Recently, the U.S. Navy scrapped plans for a carrier-based armed drone aircraft in favor of their new MQ-25 Stingray program. Instead of carrying ordnance aboard the unmanned vehicles, the MQ-25 will serve as a refueler that helps to extend the operational range of fighters like the Block III F/A-18 Super Hornet and the F-35C naval variant of the Joint Strike Fighter. With nations like China fielding hypersonic anti-ship missiles the U.S. currently has no means of defense against, stretching the range of Navy fighters has become the focus of multiple defense initiatives that each hope to bring carriers back into the fight if ever a conflict between the U.S. and a nation like China were to break out.⠀ ⠀ Boeing ultimately won the contract for the MQ-25, likely in large part because they already had an operational technology demonstrator to show the Navy thanks to their previous UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) efforts. Lockheed Martin’s proposal, on the other hand, could be characterized as a “paper plane,” as in a potentially capable platform that, to date, exists only on paper. Undeterred by the Navy’s choosing Boeing, however, Lockheed has now turned to another potential customer for their MQ-25 pitch: the U.S. Air Force.⠀ ⠀ The Air Force is currently moving to replace its dated fleet of KC-10 and KC-135 tanker aircraft with the updated Boeing 767 based KC-46 Pegasus, but according to internal Air Force documents, the branch does not believe a new fleet of large refuelers is all they need to stay capable in the air battles of tomorrow. In particular, the Air Force has concerns about long range flight operations inside contested airspace, where the massive Pegasus dares not travel. |
Uh...is this true? Could the USAF be looking at a UCAV/U-Tanker (yeah I made that up but you come up with a better handle!).
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