The U.S. Navy signed a cooperation agreement with Boeing to invest $36 million to jointly develop the MQ-25 carrier-based unmanned tanker. This is one of the important measures taken by the US Navy to meet the strategic needs of the Asia-Pacific region in the future. The MQ-25 UAV, nicknamed "Stingray", is the core strength of the US Navy's UAV echelon, with excellent stealth performance and fuel supply capabilities. It can provide 1000 for carrier-based fighters at a distance of 1000 km60,000 pounds of fuel.
The advent of the MQ-25 UAV can effectively free up the F A-18 carrier-based fighters and allow them to no longer take on the tasks of the "partner refueling" program. According to US Navy officials, there are currently 160 F A-18 carrier-based aircraft performing this duty, which has led to a significant reduction in their lifespan. If the MQ-25 UAV can be successfully put into service, the F A-18 carrier-based aircraft can focus on combat missions and increase combat effectiveness.
The goal of the US Navy is to land the MQ-25 UAV on the aircraft carrier by 2024 and begin to perform combat duty. Two years ago, the US Navy has already carried out a verification of in-flight refueling technology with the MQ-25 UAV, with positive results. However, the development of this drone did not go smoothly and encountered a lot of technical difficulties, which led to the fact that it was far from reaching a mature level.
The U.S. Navy hopes to use the MQ-25 UAV to strengthen the containment of China, accelerate the pace of returning to the Asia-Pacific region, and focus on building an island chain system. Faced with China's strong countermeasures in the first island chain, the US Navy shifted its focus to the second island chain, so it was necessary to extend the combat radius of carrier-based aircraft. Although the US Navy also has tanker aircraft such as the KC-135, their number is limited and the safety is not high, so they cannot fundamentally solve the problem. The MQ-25 UAV can effectively extend the strike range of carrier-based aircraft, and in terms of cost performance, it also has more advantages than UAVs.