Boeing has been awarded the contract by Us-Navy for the construction of the drone MQ-25, an important victory for a company that in the last years has struggled to win prizes in the combat aircraft, thus marking an important step towards a new type of air carrier.
Navy James Geurts, Undersecretary of US Navy, said the $ 805 million contract covers the design, development, manufacture, testing and delivery of four Stingray aircraft. The program will have a total cost of about $ 13 billion for 72 aircraft.
US Navy has attempted to develop a UAV for its aircraft carriers, designing the UCLASS, a long-range unmanned attack and reconnaissance aircraft, equipped with stealth characteristics capable of penetrating within dense integrated air defense networks. However, the program was canceled in the 2016 after the parties involved, including the Navy, the Defense Secretary's Office and Congress clashed over the requirements.
From an operational point of view this project is a way of integrating UAVs with classical piloting systems in the air fleets. The introduction of the MQ-25 Stingray in the fleet will free the Hornets now dedicated to supplying buddy-buddy flights.
The victory of the MQ-25 contract, for Boeing, is of particular significance. Boeing has a long history in both naval aviation and in-flight refueling platforms, but its research into new technologies through the Phantom Works has failed in recent decades and has not won any recognition like that of Lockheed Martin. (F35)
Boeing and General Atomics have been widely regarded as favorites for the MQ-25 competition.
Both companies designed their aircraft paying attention to costs and conducting extensive tests on their aircraft and on the main subsystems.
General Atomics decided not to build a complete flight prototype, but used the Vending drone in the drills.
Boeing, however, built a complete prototype of its MQ-25 which he then used in the demonstrations in St. Louis. The officials of the program said that a first flight could occur immediately after the award of the contract.