![]() ![]() ![]() While a strike drone would have undoubtedly been useful, it also would have resulted in just 10 aircraft-out of an air wing of about 63-with long-range capabilities. carriers were safe from anti-ship ballistic missiles like the Chinese DF-21D and DF-26. One obvious choice was a long-range uncrewed strike plane, which could strike targets on land far enough away that U.S. The landmark event, however, seemed to go nowhere, as the Navy dithered about how to field uncrewed planes from aircraft carriers. The Navy first flew drones from aircraft carriers in 2013, when the Northrop Grumman X-47B practiced takeoffs and landings from the USS Bush. The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) conducts touch-and-go maneuvers aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, November 2013. The Super Hornet moved up to a position behind the drone and then plugged its refueling probe into the drogue, beginning the refueling process. The MQ-25A, carrying an aerial refueling store (ARS) pod on an external pylon, unspooled an aerial refueling drogue and trailed it behind the unmanned aircraft. On June 4, both aircraft flew from MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois. ![]() Navy carriers to fly longer and farther-and freeing up much-needed Super Hornet fighters from the same task. The MQ-25A is designed to act primarily as an aerial refueling tanker, allowing other aircraft based on U.S. The new Boeing MQ-25A Stingray drone just passed a key test: refueling a manned aircraft, an F/A-18F Super Hornet, in midair. The Stingray is designed to refuel other aircraft operating from aircraft carriers.The MQ-25A passed gas to an F/A-18F Super Hornet.The MQ-25A Stingray tanker refueled another aircraft in the air for the first time. ![]()
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