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Coming soon to a carrier deck near you


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Surely the star of Top Gun 3 that will come out in 2025.  Sorry Maverick and Goose, your services are no longer needed.  

 

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Boeing looks to have won (I assume there will be the usual protests and lawsuits that seem to be standard these days) the Navy's MQ-25 program.   Pretty interesting design.  Wonder if it's only a matter of time before they weaponize these things?   I find it noteworthy that they incorporated stealth features into a tanker.   Guess it's an admission that with the new ultra long range SAMs / AAM's China and Russia are fielding, conventional tankers are no longer safe. 

 

USAF take heed!

 

 

 

 

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10 minutes ago, TankerTweaker said:

How much fuel will the MQ-25 be able to offload compared to the S-3, F-18 or A-6? I bet it's lower than what the A-6 could offload. And why do we need an unmanned tanker anyway? 

Pretty sure it can offload the same, if not more fuel than those legacy jets.  As far as why they need an unmanned tanker - why do they need to tie a crew up (and a tactical jet) for a mission like this? 

 

Welcome to the 21st century!   

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23 minutes ago, TankerTweaker said:

 And why do we need an unmanned tanker anyway? 

Because we can.  And...The program spent the money on X-47 so they had to get something unmanned to justify the cost.

 

 

 

 

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16 hours ago, TankerTweaker said:

How much fuel will the MQ-25 be able to offload compared to the S-3, F-18 or A-6? I bet it's lower than what the A-6 could offload. And why do we need an unmanned tanker anyway? 

Why do you need a manned tanker?

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With regard to fuel, I'm struggling to find specifics on the Boeing aircraft but I believe the general spec was to be able to offload 15,000 lbs at 500 miles from the CVN.  No idea what the capacities are for those legacy jets mentioned above but I gotta believe the MQ-25 is close to or exceeds them.  Certainly it must beat the short legged F-18's equipped with buddy refueling pods, so unless someone is suggesting we start re-issuing Vikings or Intruders to the fleet, the MQ-25 is a step forward.  

 

This all assume that BA has their act together.  The way they are struggling with a relatively straightforward conversion of the 767 into a tanker for the USAF makes me think that the USN will be flying fighter UAVs by the time the MQ-25 finally makes it onto a carrier deck.  

Edited by 11bee
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My question is: is this a remotely-piloted vehicle or an autonomous aircraft.  I assume the NAVY won't relinquish control of any aircraft that operates off its decks.  An RPV makes sense if the Grand Poobahs don't mind losing ASW capabiliy that manned aircraft provide.

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