The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye may play a role controlling the MQ-25 in the future In 2012, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPRA) demonstrated a Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk flying close enough behind another RQ-4A at high altitude to refuel (However, the two UAVs never physically connected and no fuel was passed in that test). In 2015, the USN’s Northrop X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration aircraft autonomously refuelled from an Omega Boeing K-707 tanker. The US Department of Defense has been developing, testing and refining the process for years. The demonstration of the MQ-25 passing fuel to the F/A-18F moves the USN one step closer to refuelling operations using UAVs. Later this year, the service plans to ship the MQ-25 to Norfolk, Virginia, for deck handling trials aboard an aircraft carrier. The USN plans to continue flight testing to expand the UAV’s flight envelope. Boeing and the USN say they have also been testing aerodynamics via digital models. The in-flight refuelling demonstration comes after the T1 MQ-25 completed 25 flights during which the aerodynamics of the aircraft and aerial refuelling store were tested. “With the evaluation safely completed, the MQ-25 drogue was extended, and the F/A-18 pilot moved in to plug with the unmanned aircraft and receive the scheduled fuel offload.” ![]() “During the initial part of the flight, the F/A-18 test pilot flew in close formation behind MQ-25 to ensure performance and stability prior to refuelling – a manoeuvre that required as little as of separation between the MQ-25 T1 air vehicle and the F/A-18 refuelling probe,” the company says. The service is aiming for the MQ-25 to reach initial operational capability in early 2025.į/A-18F Super Hornet refuels an F/A-18C Hornet, a mission that the MQ-25 is supposed to take overĭuring the recent inaugural test, both aircraft were flying at “operationally relevant speeds and altitudes”, Boeing says, without disclosing additional details. The first service-owned aircraft is scheduled for delivery in the fall or winter of 2022.Īfter initial delivery, the USN will test the MQ-25’s ability to do catapult launches and arrestments on the ground, before moving on to carrier-based launchings and landings. The USN has seven of its own demonstration test articles on order for further testing and demonstrations. Initial testing of the unmanned in-flight refuelling tanker is being done with the T1 test asset, a Boeing-owned MQ-25. That would free up more aircraft in carrier-based fighter squadrons for combat missions. The MQ-25 would also take over a buddy tanking role that the F/A-18 occasionally plays when it carries a hose and drogue to transfer fuel to other fighters. The USN needs to be able to launch those aircraft further out from targets to keep its aircraft carriers out of the range of adversaries’ ballistic and cruise missiles. The MQ-25 is being developed to extend the range of carrier-based aircraft, such as the F/A-18 and the Lockheed Martin F-35C. Decade of Airline Excellence Awards 2020. ![]()
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