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

The U.S. Navy awarded Boeing a $562 million fixed-price incentive contract on September 14, 2026, for the Lot 1 low-rate initial production of the MQ-25A Stingray. This contract provides funding for three low-rate initial production aircraft alongside long-lead components for three additional Lot 2 units. The program transitions the carrier-based unmanned aerial system from development into production to deliver organic aerial refueling capabilities and extend the operational range of carrier air wings.

The $562 million award covers three Lot 1 MQ-25A Stingray aircraft with initial deliveries scheduled to begin in 2029. The overall program of record comprises 76 total air vehicles, including nine test platforms, designed to relieve F/A-18 Super Hornets of tanker duties.

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On September 14, 2026, the U.S. Navy awarded Boeing $562 million for three MQ-25A Lot 1 low-rate initial production aircraft and long-lead components for three Lot 2s, marking the official transition from development and testing into production for operational fleet introduction. (Picture source: US Navy)

On September 14, 2026, the U.S. Navy awarded Boeing the first production contract for the MQ-25A Stingray tanker drone, covering three Lot 1 low-rate initial production aircraft and long-lead components for three Lot 2 aircraft, valued at $562 million. Eight years after the August 30, 2018 development award, this new contract raises Boeing's contracted total to 14 aerial refueling drones. Lot 1 nevertheless represents only three of 67 planned production MQ-25A drones, or 4.5%, within a program also comprising nine developmental/test unmanned aircraft. Milestone C occurred on May 18, 2026, only 23 days after the first production-representative MQ-25A Stingray flew on April 25. Compared with the 2018 baseline, LRIP has fallen 45% from 11 units planned for FY2023-FY2025 to six during FY2026-FY2027, reducing the LRIP share of the inventory from 14.5% to 7.9%. Initial Lot 1 deliveries are not expected until 2029, the same year in which the U.S. Navy now expects to achieve IOC, compared with the original 2024 objective.

Of the $552.053 million contract ceiling, $164.428 million (29.8%) is obligated at award, including $100 million in FY2025 Aircraft Procurement, Navy funds and $64.428 million in FY2026 funds. Work is concentrated in St. Louis at 56%, followed by Torrance at 8%, Indianapolis at 4%, Quebec at 3%, McKinney and Ontario at 2% each, Kansas City, Wichita and Irvine at 1% each, with smaller locations accounting for 22%. Completion is scheduled for July 2031, roughly 29 months after the February 2029 IOC objective. Still, the production reset combines lower quantity with higher unit cost: procurement has declined from 72 to 67 aircraft, while Average Procurement Unit Cost increased from $121.751 million to $136.840 million in constant-year dollars, a $15.089 million (12.39%) increase. Program Acquisition Unit Cost also rose $16.627 million, from $166.030 million to $182.657 million, or 10.01%. Total constant-year acquisition cost consequently increased by $1.264 billion, from $12.618 billion to $13.882 billion.

The MQ-25A Stingray is 51 ft (15.5 m) long, with a 75-ft (22.9 m) unfolded wingspan that contracts to 31.3 ft (9.54 m) when folded, a 43.7-ft (58.3%) reduction required for carrier deck handling and storage. Height also changes from 9.8 ft (3 m) unfolded to 15.7 ft (4.79 m) folded. One Rolls-Royce AE 3007N turbofan engine produces more than 10,000 lbf (44 kN) through a configuration using a top-mounted flush inlet and inset exhaust. The operational requirement for the Stingray currently centers on fuel delivered at distance: at least 14,000 lb at 500 nmi, but other program figures reach 15,000 to 16,000 lb (7,250 kg) at 500 nmi, equivalent to 930 km. A Cobham Aerial Refueling Store (CARS) occupies one of two underwing stations and provides hose-and-drogue refueling for F/A-18E/F, EA-18G, and F-35C fighter jets. At a 500 nmi tanker station, the MQ-25A must therefore logically cover a 1,000 nmi outbound-and-return distance while still retaining recovery fuel and providing the specified offload, making delivered fuel and time on station more relevant measures than maximum range alone.

Boeing received the initial $805 million award for four Engineering Development Model (EMD) aircraft on August 30, 2018, followed by three additional test MQ-25A drones on April 2, 2020. The Boeing-owned T1 demonstrator first flew on September 19, 2019, and flew with the Cobham refueling store in December 2020. On June 4, 2021, the T1 completed the first unmanned refueling demonstration with an F/A-18F during a 4.5-hour mission, conducting more than 10 minutes of dry and wet contacts and transferring 325 lb of fuel; E-2D and F-35C receiver work followed. The first production-representative MQ-25A, for its part, reached low-speed taxi testing only on January 29, 2026, after structural testing, engine runs, flight-certified software, and UMCS integration. Its April 25 maiden flight from Mascoutah, Illinois lasted roughly two hours and was controlled through the MD-5 Ground Control Station by U.S. Navy and Boeing pilots. That event occurred roughly one year behind schedule after delays involving development, unplanned production work, software rework, avionics complexity, and supplier payment changes, yet Milestone C followed only 23 days later.

The unmanned tanker is only one part of the operational system because carrier employment also depends on the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System (UMCS). The MQ-25A and UMCS established their first integrated command-and-control connection in October 2025, six months before the first production-representative flight. The USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) previously received the first test Unmanned Air Warfare Center in August 2024, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) became the first carrier with a fully operational and deployable MQ-25-capable UAWC in March 2026, and the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) was scheduled to follow by the end of August 2026. The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) separately passed representative MQ-25 traffic between the carrier network and a surrogate through operational communications paths, including satellite communications and the U.S. Navy tactical wide-area network. The remaining carrier work now includes catapult launch, arrested recovery, deck taxi, spotting, servicing, maintenance, and integration into cyclic flight operations; to date, the T1 has never performed a carrier launch or arrested landing.

The U.S. President's Budget for Fiscal Year 2027 (PB2027) places the total MQ-25 acquisition funding at $19.4408 billion in then-year dollars: $5.0114 billion for RDT&E, $13.4492 billion for procurement and $980.2 million for military construction, equivalent to 25.8%, 69.2% and 5.0% respectively. Through April 2026, $4.4349 billion (22.8%) had been appropriated, but expenditures totaled only $2.3281 billion (12%), leaving $17.1127 billion (88%) of estimated acquisition spending still ahead. Planned total acquisition funding rises from $931.3 million in FY2027 to $1.4267 billion in FY2028, $1.8207 billion in FY2029, and $2.0348 billion in FY2030 before declining to $1.9460 billion in FY2031. Procurement alone accounts for $599.5 million, $1.1134 billion, $1.5773 billion, $1.5269 billion, and $1.4670 billion in those respective years. That is $6.2841 billion of procurement spending during FY2027-FY2031, compared with $8.1595 billion in total acquisition funding over the same period. The program is therefore entering production after most development years have elapsed, but before most procurement expenditure, deliveries, and operational fielding have occurred.

The planned Unmanned Carrier-Launched Multi-Role Squadrons (abbreviated as VUQ) consist of VUQ-11 at Point Mugu, California, and VUQ-12 at Norfolk, Virginia, each supporting four continental U.S. carrier detachments, plus VUQ-11 Detachment 5 for the Forward Deployed Naval Force, for a total of nine operational detachments. VUQ-10 at Point Mugu is currently the Fleet Replacement Squadron but is planned to have no MQ-25As permanently assigned, separating training from permanent operational aircraft ownership. The April 2026 fielding profile calls for two operational MQ-25A Stingrays in FY2028, seven cumulatively in FY2029, 13 in FY2030, and 20 in FY2031. Twenty tanker drones will equal 29.9% of the 67-aircraft procurement objective and 26.3% of the 76-aircraft total, leaving 47 production aircraft to be fielded after FY2031. Even a simple distribution of 20 aircraft across nine detachments yields only 2.22 drones per detachment before accounting for maintenance, testing, training, or modification.

Still, the immediate purpose of the MQ-25 remains replacing buddy-tanking sorties from the F/A-18E/F fleet with a dedicated unmanned tanker force, thus returning Super Hornet jets, crews, and flight hours to tactical missions. The MQ-25A also incorporates a retractable under-nose electro-optical/infrared turret for a secondary intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance function, while its two underwing stations create the possibility of carrying two AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles, as shown by a 2024 scale model, but strike integration is not part of the current funded requirement. More specifically, the September contract is important because it creates the first contractual bridge between the MQ-25A test fleet and the aircraft intended for operational fleet use, making production execution, delivery performance, and unit cost increasingly important measures after the program has already absorbed nearly five years of delays beyond its original 2024 objective.

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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.