U.S. Navy Eyes Land-Based MQ-25 Stingray Unmanned Tanker for Indo-Pacific Refueling Operations.

The U.S. Navy is continuing to examine land-based options for Boeing’s MQ-25 Stingray, an unmanned aerial refueling aircraft originally designed to operate from aircraft carriers, potentially extending its role to dispersed airfields across the Indo-Pacific. The effort could give U.S. and allied fighters more flexible access to aerial refueling while reducing reliance on large tanker aircraft operating from a limited number of bases.

A shore-based MQ-25 could distribute refueling capacity closer to contested areas and help sustain fighter operations over the Indo-Pacific’s vast distances. The concept would also strengthen dispersed air operations by making the U.S. refueling network less dependent on KC-46A Pegasus and KC-135 Stratotanker missions.

Related Topic: How USS Theodore Roosevelt as First MQ-25-Ready U.S. Carrier Could Redefine Long-Range Naval Air Warfare

A Boeing MQ-25 Stingray unmanned tanker receives flight-deck operating directions aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). Designed as the U.S. Navy’s first operational carrier-based unmanned aircraft for aerial refueling and ISR missions, the MQ-25 is now also being examined for potential land-based operation, which could broaden its future role in distributed Indo-Pacific missions and allied air operations. (Picture source: U.S. Department of War/Defense)

The disclosure appears in the MQ-25 Modernized Selected Acquisition Report for the FY2027 President’s Budget, effective April, 2026. The U.S. Navy states that the MQ-25’s carrier-focused design limits potential foreign customers but confirms that “land based options are being investigated,” while international exportability remains planned. That possibility has particular relevance in the Indo-Pacific, where long distances and China’s expanding long-range strike capabilities complicate the concentration of aircraft, fuel and support infrastructure at a limited number of major bases. In such a scenario, distributing aerial refueling capacity across more operating locations could increase flexibility for U.S. and allied fighter forces and reduce dependence on a small number of tanker operating bases.

A land-based MQ-25 would not replace the far greater fuel capacity of U.S. Air Force tankers such as the KC-46A or KC-135. Its potential value would instead lie in adding smaller, unmanned refueling nodes that could operate closer to selected fighter routes or from dispersed locations, reducing the distance fighters must travel to reach a tanker and potentially preserving larger aerial refueling aircraft for missions where their greater fuel capacity is essential. The operational logic follows directly from the MQ-25’s existing U.S. Navy requirement: the unmanned aircraft must be able to deliver at least 14,000 pounds of fuel at 500 nautical miles from an aircraft carrier, with an objective of at least 16,000 pounds at the same distance. That fuel is intended to increase the effective combat radius of carrier-based fighters while releasing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets from the buddy-tanking mission.

Applied to a shore-based concept, the same basic refueling capability could theoretically support fighters after departure from dispersed Pacific airfields. Positioning an unmanned tanker several hundred nautical miles forward of a fighter base could allow combat aircraft to recover part of the fuel expended reaching the operating area, increasing the fuel available for combat maneuver, time on station or the return leg. The effect on combat radius would depend on many factors the U.S. Navy has not disclosed, including where a land-based MQ-25 would operate, how much fuel it could carry after any configuration changes, the number of receivers supported, tanker orbit location and the threat environment. The FY2027 report provides no land-based performance requirement, meaning the current carrier fuel-offload figures cannot automatically be treated as specifications for a future shore-operated aircraft.

Even so, the concept could address a different part of the aerial refueling problem from large strategic tankers. KC-135 and KC-46A aircraft are designed to transfer substantially greater quantities of fuel and support large-scale global air operations, but their size and operational importance make tanker availability a central consideration in long-range combat planning. The comparison does not mean the MQ-25 would be inherently survivable inside Chinese missile or air-defense coverage. The FY2027 report does not establish a requirement for land-based operations in highly contested airspace, nor does it disclose survivability characteristics that would justify employing the unmanned tanker close to Chinese forces. Its potential advantage would instead be distribution: a larger number of smaller unmanned tankers operating from multiple locations could complicate an adversary’s targeting problem and provide commanders with additional options if primary tanker bases, runways or logistics hubs were threatened.

This could also make the land-based concept attractive to allies. Countries without aircraft carriers compatible with U.S. carrier aviation could theoretically use an MQ-25-derived unmanned tanker from shore to extend the reach of fighters operating over maritime approaches or across geographically dispersed theaters. The U.S. Navy’s current MQ-25A is being developed primarily as an organic aerial refueling aircraft for carrier air wings, with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance as a secondary mission. By assuming refueling sorties now assigned to F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, the MQ-25A is intended to preserve fighter service life and make additional aircraft available for strike and air-combat missions.

The U.S. Navy reinforced that operational objective following the first flight of the fleet-representative MQ-25A on April 25, 2026. According to the program report, the aircraft flew for approximately two hours from MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois, marking a major step toward flight testing and production. The first flight followed the integration of the MQ-25A with its ground-control architecture. In October 2025, the MQ-25A and Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System connected for the first time during air vehicle and Ground Control Station integration testing, allowing the Lockheed Martin Ground Control Station to establish command and control of the aircraft.

The program crossed another major threshold in May 2026 when the U.S. Navy approved Knowledge Point 6 and the Low-Rate Initial Production Milestone C decision. The decision authorized entry into the Production and Deployment phase following the first flight. The FY2027 acquisition report lists a total MQ-25 program quantity of 76 aircraft, comprising nine development aircraft and 67 production aircraft. Its procurement profile calls for three production aircraft in FY2026, three in FY2027, five in FY2028 and seven annually from FY2029 through FY2036.

The U.S. Navy’s performance requirement remains centered on carrier operations. The MQ-25 must be suitable for both Nimitz-class and Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers and deliver at least 14,000 pounds of fuel at 500 nautical miles from the carrier, with the higher 16,000-pound objective providing additional flexibility for extending carrier air-wing reach. The land-based element remains considerably less mature. The FY2027 report does not confirm development of a dedicated land-based MQ-25 variant and provides no separate configuration, customer, procurement line, schedule, runway requirement or performance specification.

It is therefore more accurate to describe the U.S. Navy as investigating land-based options rather than developing a confirmed land-based MQ-25. The available documentation also does not say that the U.S. Navy intends to deploy shore-based MQ-25s specifically against China or that any U.S. ally has requested the aircraft. That acquisition caveat does not diminish the strategic significance of the investigation. The carrier configuration inherently restricts the potential international market because only a small number of countries operate aircraft carriers, and even fewer possess the infrastructure and procedures required to integrate an unmanned aircraft designed around U.S. carrier operations.

Removing the requirement to operate from an aircraft carrier could therefore substantially expand the potential customer base. Allied air forces seeking additional aerial refueling capacity could become prospective users even without naval aviation infrastructure, particularly if a land-based configuration could operate from existing military runways with manageable support requirements. The U.S. Navy explicitly states that international exportability is planned. The FY2027 report says international involvement could enhance coalition interoperability, lower costs through greater economies of scale and improve the international competitiveness of U.S. defense systems.

Any export would involve more than Boeing’s unmanned aircraft. The U.S. Navy identifies Lockheed Martin’s MDCX as the Ground Control Station associated with MQ-25 and states that future MQ-25 sales would need to be aligned with sales of MDCX. That requirement makes the command-and-control architecture central to any future international offer. A customer would need the systems, networks, communications and operator infrastructure necessary to control the unmanned tanker rather than purchasing the air vehicle as an independent capability.

The existing U.S. Navy architecture is already designed around several control configurations. The MQ-25 and Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System programs are synchronized to provide the complete operational capability, with the control system connecting to multiple networks and systems afloat and ashore. The FY2027 report also records a series of steps demonstrating the maturation of that architecture. A test Unmanned Air Warfare Center was installed aboard USS George H.W. Bush in August 2024, while USS Theodore Roosevelt became the first fully operational and deployable MQ-25-capable aircraft carrier in March 2026.

Export restrictions remain substantial. The U.S. Navy states that the Missile Technology Control Regime will constrain MQ-25 exportability and identifies the aircraft as Category I treated as a Category II unmanned aircraft under the regime. Country requests would be evaluated individually, and the U.S. Navy states that it will not sponsor International Traffic in Arms Regulations exemptions. The report also identifies future weapon stores as an additional potential export complication. No international agreements for the MQ-25 are currently listed, and the U.S. Navy does not identify any prospective foreign customer.

The wider program also faces schedule pressure before any export or land-based concept could become an operational priority. The FY2027 report moves Initial Operational Capability to February 2029 and Full-Rate Production to April 2030, citing production challenges, technical risk, funding effects and the Boeing union labor strike among the causes of schedule deviation. Those delays mean the immediate U.S. Navy priority remains proving the carrier-based MQ-25A, completing flight and carrier testing and stabilizing production. The land-based concept is therefore best understood as a potential longer-term expansion of an aircraft whose primary mission remains carrier-based aerial refueling.

If the U.S. Navy and Boeing eventually translate the investigation into a defined shore-based configuration, however, the operational consequences could extend well beyond the original carrier tanker requirement. The MQ-25 could provide another layer within a distributed aerial refueling network, complementing larger KC-46A and KC-135 aircraft rather than attempting to replace them. For Indo-Pacific operations, that could matter because fighter range is determined not simply by internal fuel capacity but also by where and when refueling is available. Moving a refueling point forward allows a fighter to spend less of its own fuel reaching the tanker, potentially preserving additional fuel for combat operations or allowing missions to be launched from more distant and dispersed bases.

The strategic value would become greater if allied forces could participate in the same refueling network. A land-based MQ-25 compatible with allied fighters and operated through an exportable command-and-control system could potentially distribute refueling capacity among several countries instead of concentrating it exclusively in U.S. tanker units. Such an approach could have particular relevance in a long-range confrontation involving China, where U.S. and allied aircraft could face the combined problems of large operating distances, pressure on major air bases and dependence on aerial refueling. A distributed unmanned tanker capability would not solve those challenges by itself, but it could add another refueling option alongside carrier-based MQ-25 operations and the much larger KC-46A and KC-135 fleets.

The current evidence stops well short of confirming that outcome. The U.S. Navy has not announced a land-based MQ-25 development program, assigned funding to such a derivative, identified an allied customer or published specifications showing how a shore-operated aircraft would perform. What the FY2027 report establishes is narrower but still significant: as Boeing’s MQ-25 Stingray moves into production as the U.S. Navy’s first carrier-based Group 5 unmanned aircraft, the U.S. Navy continues to investigate land-based options and retains international exportability in its planning. If those two lines of effort converge, an aircraft developed to extend the reach of U.S. carrier aviation could eventually become an unmanned aerial refueling and ISR capability for dispersed U.S. and allied fighter operations across the Indo-Pacific.

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Written by Alain Servaes – Chief Editor, Army Recognition Group
Alain Servaes is a former infantry non-commissioned officer and the founder of Army Recognition. With over 20 years in defense journalism, he provides expert analysis on military equipment, NATO operations, and the global defense industry.