US Navy awards Lockheed Martin $57 million MDCX contract to control MQ-25A tanker drones from aircraft carriers.

The United States Navy awarded Lockheed Martin Aeronautics a $57.71 million contract on September 30, 2026, to develop, qualify, and test Multi-Domain Combat eXchange software for the MQ-25A Stingray fleet. This contract accelerates software baseline validation across simultaneous production, carrier integration, and flight testing schedules.

The agreement immediately obligates $14.124 million through fiscal 2026 research and procurement funding, with work distributed across Marietta, Fort Worth, and Patuxent River through September 2027. This funding supports the ongoing integration of the open-architecture command and control platform into Navy aircraft carriers and ground control stations to expand unmanned carrier aviation capabilities.

Related topic: US Navy awards Boeing first MQ-25A Stingray production contract to take over F/A-18 tanker duties

The MDCX is the control software integrated into the US Navy's UMCS ground control station that allows operators to plan missions and control the MQ-25A from aircraft carriers, shore bases, or expeditionary locations. (Picture source: US Navy)

On September 30, 2026, the U.S. Navy awarded Lockheed Martin Aeronautics a new contract, capped at $57.71 million, to develop, qualify, and test Multi-Domain Combat eXchange (MDCX) software supporting the MQ-25A Stingray. The U.S. Navy obligated $14.124 million immediately (24.47% of the ceiling), including $11.05 million in FY2026 RDT&E and $3.074 million in Other Procurement funding, leaving up to $43.586 million for later obligations. Work runs through September 2027 and is divided between Marietta at 42%, Fort Worth at 38% and Patuxent River at 20%, equivalent to $24.24 million, $21.93 million and $11.54 million if spending follows those shares. The award comes recently after the production-representative MQ-25A's April 25 first flight and May 18 Milestone C, and after Boeing received the first production award for three Lot 1 aircraft on September 14. MDCX qualification, aircraft production, carrier modification, and developmental flight testing are therefore proceeding simultaneously rather than as sequential phases.

The MDCX (Multi-Domain Combat eXchange), an open-architecture command and control (C2) software platform developed by Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, is one element of a larger control chain rather than simply a software installed as the MQ-25A's primary onboard mission system. The program consists of Boeing's MQ-25A Stingray aerial refueling drone and the Navy-managed Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System (UMCS), with PMA-268 acting as lead systems integrator. The MD-5 Ground Control Station (including variants like the MD-5C and MD-5E), integrated into aircraft carriers and land-based facilities, includes 7 to 9 Air Vehicle Pilot consoles and 3 to 4 MDCX server racks, plus the Video Management System, air-traffic-control picture, Unmanned Carrier Aviation Transport System, ARC-210 radios, Digital Modular Radio and an integrated communications rack connecting operators to ship radios. In this command system, the MDCX is the software interface that operators use to execute autonomous taxi, takeoff, flight, and landing sequences. For instance, it successfully powered the Stingray's first flight under U.S. Navy control, translating pilot inputs into flight control commands while receiving real-time mission data.

The September award specifically requires a qualification-tested software build and integrated test and evaluation, meaning the Navy is still establishing and validating the operational software baseline that will control production MQ-25As. The MQ-25A and the UMCS established an integrated command-and-control connection in October 2025, followed by low-speed taxi testing in January 2026. On April 25, the aircraft departed MidAmerica Airport and flew for roughly two hours while Navy and Boeing Air Vehicle Pilots controlled it through MD-5 and MDCX, checking basic flight controls, engine performance, and handling. The Navy has also developed shore, at-sea and expeditionary MD-5 configurations, so the control architecture is not restricted to a carrier. More significantly, the UMCS has already controlled a different aircraft type: Navy pilots at Patuxent River commanded a General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger flying in California through beyond-line-of-sight links using a proliferated low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation, demonstrating the architecture beyond the MQ-25 alone.

Carrier infrastructure is logically advancing faster than aircraft deliveries. The USS George H.W. Bush received the initial UAWC installation in August 2024, following work spread across several maintenance periods, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt received the first operational MD-5C in March 2026 and the USS Ronald Reagan the second in August, doubling the number of operationally configured carriers in five months. The USS Ronald Reagan incorporated 11 ship modifications concurrently during one 17-month installation period, although pier-side and at-sea validation remains necessary. The Navy intends every Nimitz- and Ford-class carrier eventually to support MQ-25s. This is not limited to adding operator consoles: carrier modernization requires modifications to physical spaces, electrical and communications infrastructure, C4I networks, radios, servers and ship-network interfaces. FY2026 planning also funds upgrades from MQ-25-only Block 1 configurations toward Block 2 control of Collaborative Combat Aircraft and other future unmanned systems.

Aircraft quantities will grow considerably more slowly. The planned inventory contains 76 MQ-25As, including nine development/test aircraft and 67 production aircraft; three Lot 1 aircraft therefore equal only 4.48% of the production requirement. The April 2026 fielding profile projects two operational aircraft in FY2028, seven cumulatively in FY2029, 13 in FY2030 and 20 in FY2031. At 20 aircraft, only 29.85% of the 67 production-aircraft objective would be fielded, leaving 47, or 70.15%, after FY2031. The planned operational structure contains nine detachments, so an even distribution of 20 aircraft would provide 2.22 per detachment before maintenance, modification, or other unavailable aircraft are deducted. Total acquisition funding reaches $19.441 billion in then-year dollars, including $13.449 billion for procurement, $5.011 billion for RDT&E and $980.2 million for military construction, while only $2.328 billion had been expended through April 2026.

The MQ-25A performance is more about fuel offload at distance rather than maximum range. The unmanned aircraft measures 15.5 m long and 22.9 m across unfolded, but its wings fold to 9.54 m, cutting span by 13.36 m or 58.3%; height increases from 3.0 m to 4.79 m folded. Its single Rolls-Royce AE 3007N-series turbofan produces more than 44 kN of thrust. The requirement calls for at least 6.35 tonnes of transferable fuel 930 km from the carrier, with other figures reaching 6.8 to 7.25 tonnes. A 930 km tanker orbit therefore imposes at least 1,860 km of transit before maneuvering and recovery reserves are considered. The Cobham hose-and-drogue store supports F/A-18E/F, EA-18G and F-35C receivers, shifting tanker sorties away from Super Hornets and reducing fighter flight hours consumed by buddy-refueling missions.

Aerial refueling has been demonstrated, but carrier launch and recovery have not. Boeing's T1 first flew on September 19, 2019, flew with the refueling store in December 2020 and refueled an F/A-18F on June 4, 2021 during a 4.5-hour sortie involving more than 10 minutes of dry and wet contacts and 147 kg of transferred fuel. E-2D and F-35C receiver trials followed. The production-representative aircraft completed its first flight on April 25, 2026, but T1 has never conducted a carrier catapult launch or arrested landing. The remaining carrier-specific work therefore includes launch, arrested recovery, deck taxi, spotting, servicing, maintenance, and integration into cyclic flight operations, which are materially different requirements from demonstrating autonomous flight and airborne refueling from a land base.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.