Ramona Adams
U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker has said the military branch and companies vying for the MQ-25A Stingray carrier unmanned aerial vehicle program are faced with the challenge of combining tanker and ISR features into one UAV platform, USNI News reported Thursday.
Sam LaGrone writes Shoemaker, commander of Naval Air Forces, said during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event that an ideal ISR UAV would have a large wingspan and minimal fuel while a tanker would have “a fair amount of fuel internal to the platform.”
Shoemaker added the two missions require different aircraft shapes or platforms and that interested vendors analyze options to address the design challenge, LaGrone reports.
The report said Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman responded to the Navy’s draft request for proposals for the Stingray program and the service branch expects to release a final RFP next year.
