Stingray equipped with ARS flew for the first time

Boeing showed their first test flight of the the MQ-25 (construction number T1) equipped with an Aerial Refueling Store (ARS).

The Stingray unmanned carrierborne tanker will be integrated in a US Navy Carrier Air Wing was equipped with the same ARS that is used by Super Hornets, the Cobham ARS. T1 flew for 2,5 hours and took off from MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah (IL) on 9 December 2020. The test flight was performed to study the aerodynamics of the Stingray equipped with the ARS mounted under the wing.

“Having a test asset flying with an ARS gets us one big step closer in our evaluation of how MQ-25 will fulfill its primary mission in the fleet – aerial refueling,” said Capt. Chad Reed, the US Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Aviation programme manager.

In short term, test flights will continue, focussed at the ARS at various points of the flight envelope, eventually progressing to extension and retraction of the hose and drogue used for refueling, this leading to actual aerial refueling. T1 already flew some thirty hours since its first flight on 19 September 2019.

T1 is a predecessor to the Engineering Manufacturing Development (EMD) model series. The prototype is being used for early learning and discovery, laying the foundation for further development and tests of the first three System Demonstration Test Articles (SDTAs) that were ordered by the US Naval Air Systems Command. The US Navy has now ordered seven Stingrays, which is expected to be complete by August 2024. The first four Engineering Development Model (EDM) aircraft were ordered in an USD 805 million contract awarded in August 2018, when the Boeing design was selected as the winner of the CBARS (carrier-based aerial refueling system) competition. The US Navy is planning for seventy MQ-25s.

Photo by Boeing