SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Boeing to develop refueling drones for Pentagon
Washington, Aug 31 (AFP) Aug 31, 2018
The Pentagon announced Thursday it had awarded US aerospace giant Boeing an $805 million contract to develop the first unmanned refueling drones for the United States Navy.

Boeing is charged with everything from designing and producing to delivering and servicing four "MQ-25A Stingray" drones, which will enter service in 2024, the Navy said in a statement.

The drones -- named after their stingray silhouette -- will be launched from aircraft carriers, greatly expanding US aircrafts' range and mission capability.

"This is an historic day," said Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson.

"We will look back on this day and recognize that this event represents a dramatic shift in the way we define warfighting requirements, work with industry, integrate unmanned and manned aircraft, and improve the lethality of the air wing - all at relevant speed."

Boeing had to fight off General Atomics and Lockheed Martin for the contract. If the four aircraft meet requirements, the contract could be expanded to $13 billion for 72 drones, the Pentagon said.

sl/elm/ska/ia

BOEING

LOCKHEED MARTIN


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
China Focus: Chinese scientist details first planned Mars sample-return mission Tianwen 3
NASA says it will lose about 20 percent of its workforce
Building blocks of life found in distant star system suggest origins in interstellar space

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Trump administration expected to say greenhouse gases aren't harmful
MicroCarb satellite launches to map global carbon dioxide emissions from space
Rollable solar array by GalaxySpace redefines satellite compactness and power efficiency

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Airbus CO3D satellites begin mission to generate high precision global 3D map
BlackSky to supply satellite imagery and analytics for Latin American security operations
GovSat selects Thales Alenia Space to build secure satellite for military communications

24/7 News Coverage
First wildfire images reveal FireSat's unmatched detection capabilities
MetOp Second Generation satellite fully fuelled ahead of August launch
MicroCarb satellite launch marks new era in urban carbon tracking



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.