F-35 and X-47B

[spazsinbad]

GA-ASI Maximizing Fuel Capacity for MQ-25 Proposal
06 Jul 2018 SEAPOWER

"SAN DIEGO — General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) is using an integrated fuel tank structure to maximize fuel offload for the proposed MQ-25 unmanned aerial refueling aircraft for the U.S. Navy, the company said in a July 5 release. GA-ASI applied its knowledge of advanced composite aircraft structures to develop integrated fuel tanks in a large-scale wing box test article and a full-scale wing skin preproduction validation article.

The wing box tested to failure via wing bending at GA-ASI’s Adelanto, California, structural test facility in November. In April, the company verified the production readiness of the co-cured wing and tail components using both nondestructive and destructive inspections.

“The integral fuel tank wing box test article will reduce technical and schedule risk for the program,” said David R. Alexander, president, Aircraft Systems, GA-ASI. “Specifically, through extensive validation of fuel containment sealing methods, advanced nonlinear buckling finite element analysis models and thick composite laminate construction, we have accelerated engineering design consideration prior to the detail design phase and production.”

A full-scale inner-wing skin demonstration article built in March at GA-ASI’s Spanish Fork, Utah, facility verified the MQ-25 tooling concepts, lamination approach, and processes. The team validated the outer mold line tooling approach for the build process which enables accelerated engineering and tooling fabrication for the MQ-25 program."

Source: http://seapowermagazine.org/stories/20180706-ga.html

[popcorn]

It wouldn't surprise me if the various teams will try to outdo each other relatives to the fuel load. GA has the most powerful engine of the bunch so this could give them an edge.

[spazsinbad]

[spazsinbad]

http://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/found ... aaad11.jpg

US Navy selects builder for new MQ-25 Stingray aerial refueling drone
30 Aug 2018 Valerie Insinna and David B. Larter

"WASHINGTON — Boeing has seized the Navy’s MQ-25 tanker drone contract, a major victory for a company that has in recent years struggled to win combat aircraft award, marking a major step toward a new kind of carrier air wing. The $805 million contract covers the design, development, fabrication, test and delivery of the Stingray, a program the service expects will cost about $13 billion overall for 72 aircraft, said Navy acquisition boss James Geurts.

The award to Boeing kicks off what the Navy would is aiming to be a six-year development effort moving toward a 2024 declaration of initial operational capability. At the end, it will mark a historic integration of drones into the Navy’s carrier air wing....

...Boeing has a long history in both naval aviation and the tanking mission, but its Phantom Works advanced technology wing has failed in recent decades to win high-stakes awards like the joint strike fighter and long-range strike bomber contracts. Today’s win is a big step in toward reversing the trend....

...Boeing built a full prototype of its MQ-25 design — a reworked version of a UCLASS demonstrator, its MQ-25 Program Director Don “BD” Gaddis told Defense News in March — which it then used in deck handling demos in St. Louis. Program officials have said a first flight could occur soon after contract award...."

Source: https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/ ... ing-drone/

[spazsinbad]

Navy Enters Drone Age, Taps Boeing for MQ-25
30 Aug 2018 Paul McLeary

"...The Stingray program is expected to eventually grow into a $13 billion fleet of 72 drones. Loaded with jet fuel, they’ll vastly extend the ranges of carrier-based aircraft operating in the expanses of the western Pacific....

...Boeing built a full prototype of its MQ-25 design, and then flew [FLEW IT?! ffsake - TAXIED IT!] it in deck handling demonstrations. General Atomics decided not to build a demonstrator, but was said to have used a version of its Avenger drone for some test flights....

...Navy chose Boeing’s more traditional body-wing design."

Source: https://breakingdefense.com/2018/08/nav ... for-mq-25/

[spazsinbad]

Navy Picks Boeing to Build MQ-25A Stingray Carrier-Based Drone [Long post best read at source probably]
30 Aug 2018 Megan Eckstein and Sam LaGrone

"...Under the $805-million contract, Boeing will “provide the design, development, fabrication, test, verification, certification, delivery, and support of four MQ-25A unmanned air vehicles, including integration into the carrier air wing to provide an initial operational capability to the Navy,” according to the contract announcement.

The Navy plans for the first four Stingrays to achieve initial operational capability on carrier decks in 2024, an acceleration compared to previous IOC estimates. The first airframes should be flying by 2021, and the Navy will then have to conduct carrier suitability testing, modify aircraft carriers to support the control station, train the maintainers and pilots, build a sufficient logistics chain, and other criteria to support the 2024 IOC, Navy acquisition chief James Geurts told reporters today at the Pentagon, in announcing Boeing as the winner of the Stingray competition.

“2024 sounds a long way away, but there’s a lot of work we’re going to have to do to get there,” he said.

The contract covers the engineering and manufacturing development of Boeing’s Stingray design and the production of four airframes to be used for these early testing efforts. The Navy eventually plans to buy 72 more vehicles, with a total program cost of about $13 billion – though Geurts noted that cost estimate was calculated prior to receiving Boeing’s bid and would be updated at a later time....

...On the acquisition side, the Navy made the unusual move of only including two key performance parameters: mission tanking, and carrier suitability. The Navy also brought together the requirements, acquisition and engineering communities and industry early on in the process, allowing for a more productive dialogue and fewer surprises when bids were submitted.

Geurts said “the level of interaction we had between requirements and acquisition, and working that kind of hand-in-hand, which enabled us to rapidly get through the requirements process several years faster than I would say is standard; it enabled us to clearly articulate in the [request for proposal] what was important to the Navy, with also being able to leave a lot of room for innovation in design; and it allowed us to perform what I believe was a very sound source selection in a period of nine months.”

He said including two only main criteria in the evaluation of the MQ-25A bids helped encourage creativity instead of tamping it down....

...With the bids reviewed and a selection made in a speedy nine months, and the IOC date accelerated by two years, Richardson said he was proud of the effort but there was still further opportunity to accelerate even more – potentially leading to an earlier IOC and fielding date if all goes well in the coming years.

“Let’s not rest too easy here, because a lot of that learning is still to come, particularly the operational learning. … There’s a carrier part of this: there’s going to be some installations on the carriers, systems for integrating this; how do you move it about the deck; how do you get up and get a manned and an unmanned aircraft together, one tanking off the other; and kind of get into what are the implications for cyclic ops, endurance, use of that tanker when you don’t have to worry about things like pilot fatigue, etc. So I’m very eager to start testing all those things out. I think one of the other things is that we’ve got a lot of that thinking already started down there at [Naval Air Station Patuxent River], so we’ll just continue to maintain this momentum going forward.”

While the airframe is the most visible portion of the Stingray effort, it is only one-third of the overall program. Naval Air Systems Command is developing the carrier-based control station as well as the system to network the aircraft to the carrier and the rest of the air wing in-house, based on the work for the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike program....

...Richardson [Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson] too talked about the possibility of adding ISR capabilities down the line, telling reporters that “the idea, at least as I see it, is, we can very very efficiently and effectively and for a great price put an ISR package on this aircraft and let it do its tanking mission. It was very very important that [ISR] did not become a driver in terms of its … cost and design and all those things. Having said that, these days it’s very easy to integrate some ISR capability, so we’ll take a look at what those possibilities are going forward.”..."

Source: https://news.usni.org/2018/08/30/navy-p ... ased-drone

[ricnunes]

US Navy selects builder for new MQ-25 Stingray aerial refueling drone
30 Aug 2018 Valerie Insinna and David B. Larter

"WASHINGTON — Boeing has seized the Navy’s MQ-25 tanker drone contract...."

Source: https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/ ... ing-drone/

Why am I not surprised here?

[noth]

72 aircraft, so does that mean 6 per Carrier Air Wing with 12 in reserve? At least the contract got attributed fairly quickly, now Boeing can move ahead and get this thing flying for one thing, and carrier tested. Shame NG pulled out, but they won't do fixed-price contracts anymore.

Does make you wonder if General Atomics will ever fly that Sea Avenger concept of their's, they've had so much success with the Predator/Reaper line but have yet to get a naval version going.

[spazsinbad]

Boeing is Ready to Take the MQ-25 to the Flight Deck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MykMZg5d61w

[wrightwing]

72 aircraft, so does that mean 6 per Carrier Air Wing with 12 in reserve? At least the contract got attributed fairly quickly, now Boeing can move ahead and get this thing flying for one thing, and carrier tested. Shame NG pulled out, but they won't do fixed-price contracts anymore.

Does make you wonder if General Atomics will ever fly that Sea Avenger concept of their's, they've had so much success with the Predator/Reaper line but have yet to get a naval version going.

There are never 10 carriers at sea, at any one time. Maybe 4 to 6 at any given time, with the ability to surge if need be. That means each ship could have 12 or more MQ-25s.

[Corsair1963]

72 aircraft, so does that mean 6 per Carrier Air Wing with 12 in reserve? At least the contract got attributed fairly quickly, now Boeing can move ahead and get this thing flying for one thing, and carrier tested. Shame NG pulled out, but they won't do fixed-price contracts anymore.

Does make you wonder if General Atomics will ever fly that Sea Avenger concept of their's, they've had so much success with the Predator/Reaper line but have yet to get a naval version going.

There are never 10 carriers at sea, at any one time. Maybe 4 to 6 at any given time, with the ability to surge if need be. That means each ship could have 12 or more MQ-25s.

Makes you wonder about possible export potential for the type???

[geforcerfx]

72 aircraft, so does that mean 6 per Carrier Air Wing with 12 in reserve? At least the contract got attributed fairly quickly, now Boeing can move ahead and get this thing flying for one thing, and carrier tested. Shame NG pulled out, but they won't do fixed-price contracts anymore.

Does make you wonder if General Atomics will ever fly that Sea Avenger concept of their's, they've had so much success with the Predator/Reaper line but have yet to get a naval version going.

There are never 10 carriers at sea, at any one time. Maybe 4 to 6 at any given time, with the ability to surge if need be. That means each ship could have 12 or more MQ-25s.

Makes you wonder about possible export potential for the type???

Depending on it's stealth levels, and how well/quickly Boeing can add strike capabilities I see a lot of export potential amongst nato allies, gives them stealthy unmanned strike and ISR or a tanker.

[spazsinbad]

Rolls-Royce to Power Boeing MQ-25 UAV for U.S. Navy
07 Sep 2018 SEAPOWER

"INDIANAPOLIS — Rolls-Royce engines have been selected by Boeing to power the U.S. Navy’s new MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which will provide unmanned, carrier-based air-to-air refueling, Rolls-Royce announced in a Sept. 6 release....

...Each MQ-25 aircraft will be powered by a single Rolls-Royce AE 3007N engine, manufactured in Indianapolis. The AE 3007N, the latest variant of the Rolls-Royce AE family of engines, will provide more than 10,000 pounds of thrust and additional electrical power to the aircraft....

...The AE 3007H turbofan engine powers the Navy’s Triton and the Air Force Global Hawk, as well as commercial and business aviation aircraft...."

Source: http://seapowermagazine.org/stories/20180907-MQ25.html

[spazsinbad]

Video Excerpt will follow soon however this is a slide from OPNAV/APW Panel TAILHOOK 2018 Video Brief Sep 2018 from:

https://livestream.com/wab/tailhook2018 ... /179975031

[spazsinbad]

MQ-25 TAILHOOK 2018 Brief OPNAV/APW Panel Sep 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gr0nAr_VzE