Wang Yifei, Zhang Yufan, Wang Yunsong
Recently, the US Department of Defense signed a contract with Boeing to spend nearly $50 million on the production of MQ-25 "Stingray" unmanned tankers. Prior to this, the US military had conducted several rounds of refueling tests and completed the certification of the "Bush" aircraft carrier at the end of last year. So, why has the "Stingray" UAV attracted the attention of the US side, how will it affect the combat strength of the US military, and what is its strategic significance?
A tortuous path to birth
The growth of the MQ-25 unmanned tanker can be described as a long and tortuous road. Back in 2006, the US Navy proposed the "Naval Unmanned Combat Aviation System" (N-UCAS) program. At that time, the U.S. military had abundant finances, so the research and development of a new generation of carrier-based UAVs mainly focused on flight and stealth performance, and the cost was relatively lenient. As a result, in 2007 Northrop Grumman's X-47B unmanned attack aircraft stood out from many competitors and successfully won the US Navy's $1 billion contract for the Unmanned Air Combat System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) project.
However, to the surprise of the US military, the follow-up research and development costs of the X-47B unmanned attack aircraft continued to rise, and even went out of control. The high cost of research and development forced the U.S. military to suspend the project in 2013 and shift its focus to the development of an unmanned aerial refueling platform. In the new round of bidding, the US military chose the MQ-25 UAV, which was secretly developed by Boeing and has a powerful aerial refueling capability.
MQ-25 "Stingray" unmanned tanker
The MQ-25 unmanned tanker was originally designed for the U.S. project of a shipborne surveillance and attack unmanned aerial vehicle (UCLASS) presented in the 2010 fiscal year. However, due to its weak attack and stealth performance compared to the X-47B unmanned attack aircraft, the MQ-25 was not favored by the US military after the prototype was completed. It wasn't until 2016, when the U.S. military transitioned the ship-based surveillance and attack drone program into a carrier-based aerial refueling system (CBARS), that the MQ-25 finally came to prominence, winning an $805 million development contract from the U.S. military. U.S. Navy Assistant Secretary for Research and Acquisition Goiz has said that the military expects to invest about $13 billion to build 72 MQ-25s.
With the strong support of the U.S. military, Boeing has innovated the traditional aircraft design and production methods in order to ensure the high-quality research and development of the MQ-25. Dave Bjord, director of the MQ-25 project, has publicly revealed: "We have changed the traditional buy-build-test development model. We adopted a first-to-test strategy, which allowed us to obtain a large amount of data to support the production of the Navy's MQ-25. ”
Excellent overall performance
As the world's first carrier-based unmanned tanker, the MQ-25 is inseparable from the United States' nearly 20 years of technological accumulation in the field of carrier-based UAVs. Prior to its success, many UAV projects failed for various reasons, but the advanced technology they accumulated laid a solid foundation for the development of the MQ-25. For example, the new UAV control technology validated by the X-47B unmanned attack aircraft not only greatly shortens the development cycle of the MQ-25, saves money, but also makes the new UAV outstanding in terms of performance.
The MQ-25's excellent performance in shipboard refueling also met design expectations. It is equipped with the proven 28-300 or 31-301 series of refueling pods from Cockham Aerospace, which have excelled in refueling missions for U.S. Navy F-18 carrier-based aircraft. According to test data, the MQ-25 can carry up to 6.8 tons of fuel and provide a total of 15,000 pounds (about 6,800 kilograms) of fuel for four to six carrier-based aircraft in the sea area 900 kilometers away from the aircraft carrier, thus extending the combat radius of the F-18 and F-35C fighters to more than 1,300 kilometers. Although the MQ-25 still has a gap in fuel capacity compared to the large tankers in service with the U.S. military, its innovative fuel tank design allows fuel to be flexibly transferred between the internal fuel tanks and the wing fuel tanks, which means that the MQ-25 can directly refuel the target aircraft in an emergency, greatly enhancing its emergency response capabilities and development potential. Not only that, but the MQ-25 also has the unique ability to refuel all U.S. carrier-based fighters in the air, which is unmatched by other tankers.
MQ-25 unmanned tanker aircraft for in-flight refueling
In addition to its excellent refueling capabilities, the MQ-25's performance in terms of endurance is also impressive. According to the test data, the MQ-25 can cruise for more than 10 hours with full load, and the maximum range may exceed 4,000 kilometers. This means that an aircraft carrier battle group only needs to be equipped with 2-4 MQ-25s to carry out round-the-clock patrol missions over it and provide emergency refueling support for low-fuel fighters that cannot land in extreme weather conditions.
In terms of stealth design, the MQ-25 adopts an innovative back-embedded air intake design, which cleverly hides the engine inside the fuselage, and the air intake on the back of the fuselage is treated with a stealth profile, so that the inlet surface of the engine completely avoids the incident direction of radar waves. At the same time, the tail jet of the MQ-25 adopts a linear structure of plane exhaust design, combined with its unique V-shaped tail, which effectively reduces the infrared signature of the exhaust port, thereby greatly improving the stealth performance of the aircraft.
As an unmanned aerial vehicle, the MQ-25 has a lot of space in the cabin for the installation of various advanced electronic instruments, which makes it have excellent electronic reconnaissance capabilities. Combined with its excellent endurance, the MQ-25 has undoubtedly become an indispensable "carrier guard" for aircraft carrier battle groups, capable of carrying out long-term reconnaissance and surveillance missions in the vast sea area, and providing timely and accurate intelligence support for aircraft carrier formations.
Dazzling pilot star
With its excellent performance, the MQ-25 unmanned tanker has become the new favorite of the US military's strategic deployment. So, what exactly is the strategic significance of the MQ-25 for the United States?
First of all, MQ-25, as the world's first unmanned tanker, not only demonstrates the leading position of the US military in the field of UAV technology, but also leads the direction of future UAV technology development. The data accumulated in the test of MQ-25 also has high reference value for the research and development of future attack aircraft, so MQ-25 is not only a breakthrough in unmanned tanker technology, but also an important milestone in the exploration of the US military's carrier-based unmanned combat system and attack aircraft-tanker dual system. This is of far-reaching strategic significance for the future military development direction of the US military.
Secondly, the US military chose to shift its research and development focus from the X-47B project to the MQ-25 unmanned tanker, and there are also deep strategic considerations behind it. On the surface, this seems to be because the sky-high R&D costs required for the X-47B project are prohibitive for the US military. However, the real reason for the US military to change its R&D focus is that the focus of the development of its aircraft carrier battle group has shifted from the intensity of the strike to the strike range. With the continuous rise of military power and the rapid development of ballistic missile technology, the US aircraft carrier battle group is facing unprecedented challenges. To meet these challenges, the U.S. military needs to expand the strike range of its carrier battle groups. By providing in-flight refueling services for carrier-based aircraft, the MQ-25 is able to extend the combat radius of the fighter to a longer range, thus making the US military's military operations more flexible and efficient.
In addition, the creation of the MQ-25 may also herald a change in the choice of military targets or imaginary enemies by the US military. As the international situation continues to change, the US military may pay more attention to those countries that have advanced anti-ship systems. Therefore, expanding the scope of strikes and improving the accuracy and efficiency of strikes have become an important strategic task for the US military at present and for a period of time to come.