MQ-25 initial operational capability slips to 2029
- Boeing and the U.S. Navy flew the first production-representative MQ-25A Stingray on April 25, while Navy budget documents moved deployment to 2029. - The unmanned tanker taxied, took off and landed autonomously in a roughly two-hour Illinois flight, as the Navy cited production and carrier constraints. - The delay extends a program already moved from 2026 to 2027, leaving Super Hornets in tanker duty longer. (news.usni.org)
The U.S. Navy’s MQ-25A Stingray flew its first production-representative test flight on April 25, but the service now says the drone tanker will not reach initial operational capability until 2029. (news.usni.org) (dvidshub.net) Boeing and the Navy said the aircraft took off at 10:49 a.m. CDT from MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois, and flew for about two hours. The flight included autonomous taxi, takeoff and landing, with Navy test personnel monitoring the aircraft. (dvidshub.net) (boeing.com) The schedule moved the other way. USNI News, citing Navy budget documents, reported the program’s initial operational capability slipped from 2027 to 2029 because of production delays and limited aircraft-carrier availability for testing and integration. (news.usni.org) The MQ-25 is built to do one job first: refuel other aircraft in the air from an aircraft carrier. The Navy says that would free F/A-18E/F Super Hornets from the “buddy tanking” mission and return more of those fighters to strike and air-defense work. (navair.navy.mil) (congress.gov) Congressional Research Service said the Navy’s program of record remains 76 aircraft, including 67 operational jets and nine test and developmental aircraft. For fiscal 2026, the Navy asked for funding that would buy the first three low-rate initial production aircraft. (congress.gov) The timing has been sliding for a while. Congressional Research Service said the Navy had already pushed initial operational capability to the end of fiscal 2027 from 2026, and Defense One reported that change last July as the program struggled with design and production problems. (congress.gov) (defenseone.com) The Navy still describes the Stingray as its first operational, carrier-based unmanned aircraft. NAVAIR also says the program includes a separate mission control system that has to be integrated aboard carriers before the tanker can deploy with the air wing. (navair.navy.mil 1) (navair.navy.mil 2) That leaves the program in a split-screen moment: a first flight in southern Illinois on April 25, and a fleet date that has moved out to 2029. Until carrier testing and production stabilize, the Navy’s strike fighters will keep covering more of the refueling workload themselves. (dvidshub.net) (news.usni.org)
