MQ-25A Stingray

Source-backed capabilities

• Workflows: Mission-planned unmanned aerial refueling for crewed aircraft, including deck handling, launch/recovery integration and tanker mission execution.
• Operating environments: Carrier decks, naval aviation test environments and future carrier air wing operations.
• Target markets: U.S. Navy carrier aviation and defense acquisition teams evaluating unmanned support aircraft for extending fighter range.
• Deployment model: Program-of-record defense aircraft moving through Navy acquisition and low-rate initial production.
• Aerial refueling

  Claimed - The U.S. Navy defines MQ-25A as an uncrewed carrier-based aerial-refueling aircraft developed by Boeing.

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• Production Setup

  low-rate initial production approved - 2026-05-19 - U.S. Navy - carrier aviation production program - The U.S. Navy cleared Boeing MQ-25A Stingray for low-rate initial production after Milestone C approval.

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• Order / Commitment

  $805.3 million - 2018-08-30 - U.S. Navy - carrier-based unmanned aircraft program - The U.S. Navy awarded Boeing an $805.3 million design-build contract for the MQ-25A Stingray unmanned carrier aviation air system.

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• Boeing awarded up to $80 million MQ-25A support contract

  2026-10-16 - Contract Award - Contract N0001927D1006 was not competitively procured. Work is based in St. Louis and is expected to finish in October 2031. Funding will be obligated through individual orders; the ceiling is not booked proceeds, delivered aircraft or immediate expenditure.

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• Lockheed Martin awarded up to $57.7 million for MQ-25 MDCX software

  2026-09-30 - Contract Award - The Navy obligated $14,124,363 at award, covering research and procurement funding. Work is scheduled through September 2027 in Marietta, Fort Worth and Patuxent River. The sole-source contract includes a qualification-tested software build and integrated testing.

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• U.S. Navy clears MQ-25A Stingray for low-rate initial production

  2026-05-19 - Production Milestone - The decision followed the April 2026 first flight of a production-representative MQ-25A aircraft. Milestone C moved the carrier-based uncrewed refuelling programme from engineering development into initial production. The aircraft is intended to extend carrier-air-wing range by transferring fuel to crewed aircraft.

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• Boeing MQ-25A completes first flight with Rolls-Royce power

  2026-04-25 - Capability - The two-hour flight autonomously executed a programmed mission comprising taxi, take-off, flight manoeuvres and landing. The flight validated integration with the MD-5 ground control station as the programme moved toward carrier integration testing. Rolls-Royce planned four additional spare-engine deliveries in 2026; the MQ-25A programme of record covers 76 aircraft plus spare engines.

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• Boeing awards Curtiss-Wright MQ-25 data-systems contract

  2019-04-23 - Contract Award - The aircraft data-system solution supports the carrier-based unmanned aerial-refuelling programme. The engineering and manufacturing development contract covered four MQ-25 aircraft for the U.S. Navy. Curtiss-Wright said the programme would require six additional engineers and technicians.

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• U.S. Navy awards Boeing $805.3 million MQ-25A development contract

  2018-08-30 - Contract Award - The U.S. Navy selected Boeing for an $805.3 million engineering, manufacturing and development contract for MQ-25A Stingray. The contract covered design, development, fabrication, test and delivery of four MQ-25A air vehicles. The award established Boeing as the prime contractor for the Navy's carrier-based unmanned aerial refueling aircraft.

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Market context

MQ-25A Stingray is a carrier-based uncrewed tanker that gives Boeing a concrete robotics profile inside naval aviation rather than a generic aerospace-adjacent signal.

• Target environment: Carrier decks, naval aviation test environments and future carrier air wing operations.
• Workflow context: Mission-planned unmanned aerial refueling for crewed aircraft, including deck handling, launch/recovery integration and tanker mission execution.
• Customer context: U.S. Navy carrier aviation and defense acquisition teams evaluating unmanned support aircraft for extending fighter range.
• Deployment model: Program-of-record defense aircraft moving through Navy acquisition and low-rate initial production.
• Commercial maturity: Milestone C / LRIP transition with public Navy fact-file specifications and Boeing/NAVAIR test milestones.
• Adoption constraints: Carrier integration, airworthiness, reliability, deck operations, command-and-control assurance and defense acquisition timelines remain the practical adoption constraints.
• Market position: High-consequence defense robotics program from a major aerospace prime; important because it moves autonomous aircraft into carrier air-wing support rather than only experimental…
• Adjacent products: General Atomics carrier-capable UAS work, Kratos tactical UAS, Anduril/Fury autonomy programs, collaborative combat aircraft ecosystem