Takeaways
The U.S. Navy is moving the MQ-25A Stingray from development into low-rate production, establishing the first production path for a carrier-based unmanned aerial refueling aircraft.
Boeing MQ-25A Stingray Contract Moves Navy Into Production
The Boeing MQ-25A Stingray program has entered a significant production phase after the U.S. Navy awarded Boeing a major modification covering three Low Rate Initial Production Lot 1 aircraft and advance procurement for three additional Lot 2 aircraft. The modification provided in the contract notice is valued at up to $552.053 million and extends work through July 2031.
The Navy separately described the overall Sept. 14 production award as a $562 million fixed-price incentive contract, with initial Lot 1 deliveries expected to begin in 2029. The difference reflects the distinction between the modification value specified in the contract language and the Navy’s rounded public description of the production award.
The action is being executed under contract N0001922C0048, originally awarded to Boeing in 2022 for MQ-25A Lot 1 advance acquisition work. Naval Air Systems Command, based at Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
What the MQ-25A Contract Buys
The latest modification covers two closely related procurement activities.
| Item | Current Contract Action |
|---|---|
| Contractor | Boeing |
| Aircraft | MQ-25A Stingray |
| Lot | Lot 1 LRIP |
| Lot 1 aircraft | 3 |
| Lot 2 advance procurement | Long lead components for 3 aircraft |
| Contract modification | Up to $552.053 million |
| Navy public award value | $562 million |
| Completion | July 2031 |
| Contract type | Undefinitized fixed-price incentive modification |
| Competition | Not competed |
| Contracting activity | Naval Air Systems Command |
The Navy said the production contract funds three Lot 1 aircraft and advance acquisition of long lead components for three Lot 2 aircraft. The service also said the MQ-25 program of record contains 76 aircraft, including developmental and test aircraft already associated with the program.
At award, the Navy is obligating $100 million in fiscal 2025 aircraft procurement funds and $64.42848 million in fiscal 2026 aircraft procurement funds, for a combined initial obligation of about $164.43 million.
The remaining contract value will be obligated as the program progresses.
MQ-25A Reaches Production After First Flight
The production decision follows two major milestones in 2026.
The MQ-25A completed its first flight on April 25, 2026, flying for approximately two hours from Boeing’s facility at MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois. Navy and Boeing air vehicle pilots controlled the aircraft through the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System. The flight tested basic flight controls, engine performance and handling characteristics.
The Navy subsequently announced Milestone C approval on May 19, allowing the aircraft to enter Low Rate Initial Production. At the time, the service said the initial production award would cover three Lot 1 aircraft and include options for later production lots.
The sequence is important because the MQ-25A is not simply another unmanned aircraft procurement. The program is intended to establish an operational unmanned aircraft inside the carrier air wing, where the aircraft must function within one of the most demanding aviation environments in the U.S. military.
Why the MQ-25A Matters to the Carrier Air Wing
The primary mission of the MQ-25A is aerial refueling.
The Navy intends to use the aircraft as an organic carrier-based tanker, reducing the requirement for F/A-18E/F Super Hornets to perform tanker duties. That can allow more crewed fighters to remain available for combat missions rather than being assigned primarily to tanker operations.
NAVAIR describes the MQ-25A as the Navy’s first operational carrier-based unmanned aircraft and says its integration will extend the range of carrier aircraft while improving the use of combat strike fighters.
This creates an important operational distinction. The MQ-25A is not designed primarily to replace the carrier’s strike fighters. Its value comes from changing how those aircraft are employed.
A carrier air wing has a finite number of aircraft and a finite amount of fuel available in the carrier operating area. A dedicated unmanned tanker can absorb the refueling mission while allowing fighters, electronic warfare aircraft and other receiver-capable platforms to retain greater mission availability.
The Navy has already demonstrated the basic concept with earlier MQ-25A testing. Test aircraft have conducted aerial refueling with the F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-35C Lightning II and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.
Production Is Only One Part of the MQ-25A System
The MQ-25A program is broader than the aircraft itself.
NAVAIR identifies two major elements: the MQ-25A air vehicle and the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System, which provides command and control for the aircraft. Carrier integration also involves deck handling, taxiing, launch and recovery procedures.
That integration requirement is one of the program’s most important technical challenges.
A conventional land-based unmanned aircraft can operate from a prepared runway with relatively predictable ground infrastructure. The MQ-25A must operate from a moving aircraft carrier, where launch and recovery involve catapult and arresting systems, deck handling procedures, limited space and complex interactions with crewed aircraft.
The aircraft must therefore be integrated into the carrier’s existing aviation cycle rather than treated as an independent unmanned system.
Long Lead Components Signal Continued Production Planning
The inclusion of long lead components for three Lot 2 aircraft is particularly significant from an industrial perspective.
Long lead procurement allows the Navy and Boeing to begin acquiring components that require substantial manufacturing time before the complete aircraft are assembled. This can reduce the risk of production delays when subsequent aircraft move through the manufacturing process.
The approach also provides an early indication that the Navy is planning beyond the initial three aircraft.
The Department of the Navy’s FY2026 budget documentation had already identified funding for three MQ-25A low-rate initial production aircraft and advance procurement for long lead material for subsequent aircraft.
The Navy’s broader program planning calls for a total inventory of 76 MQ-25A aircraft. Its FY2026 budget documents describe a fleet structure that includes operational squadrons, detachments and supporting mission-control systems.
The Industrial Base Is Spread Across the United States and Canada
The modification also illustrates the distributed industrial base supporting the MQ-25A.
The work allocation in the contract includes:
Location Share of Work St. Louis, Missouri 56% Torrance, California 8% Indianapolis, Indiana 4% Quebec, Canada 3% McKinney, Texas 2% Ontario, Canada 2% Kansas City, Missouri 1% Wichita, Kansas 1% Irvine, California 1% Other locations 22% St. Louis remains the dominant location, reflecting Boeing’s central role in MQ-25 production and program activity.
The distributed work structure also demonstrates how a single unmanned aircraft program supports suppliers and manufacturing operations across several U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
MQ-25A Production Comes With a Long Test and Integration Path
The move into LRIP does not mean the MQ-25A has completed all operational testing.
The Navy’s first flight in April began a broader flight test program intended to expand the aircraft’s performance envelope and verify mission systems.
GAO’s 2026 weapons systems assessment identifies the MQ-25A as a catapult-launched uncrewed aircraft intended for carrier operations and aerial refueling. GAO’s program timeline places the initial operational capability period around 2029 and the full-rate production decision around 2030.
That timeline puts the current production award in context. The Navy is buying production aircraft while the program continues through the testing and operational evaluation process required before full-rate production.
This is normal for a major defense acquisition program entering LRIP. The purpose of LRIP is to establish production capacity and produce a limited number of operationally representative aircraft while testing, evaluation and manufacturing processes continue.
What the MQ-25A Changes for U.S. Naval Aviation
The most important consequence of the MQ-25A program is not simply the addition of an unmanned tanker.
It is the introduction of an unmanned aircraft into the carrier air wing as an operational asset that works alongside crewed aircraft.
The Navy has described the Stingray as a pathfinder for future unmanned carrier aviation. Its mission-control architecture, carrier integration and manned-unmanned operating concept provide a foundation for additional unmanned systems that could eventually operate from carriers.
For the carrier air wing, the immediate benefit is tanker capacity. The longer-term significance lies in demonstrating that unmanned aircraft can be integrated into the launch, recovery, command-and-control and maintenance cycles of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
That distinction matters as the Navy develops a future carrier air wing that is expected to combine crewed and uncrewed systems.
The MQ-25A therefore represents both an aircraft procurement and an operational integration effort.
A New Production Baseline for the Stingray
Boeing’s latest contract establishes the first LRIP production baseline for the MQ-25A.
Three Lot 1 aircraft will be produced while long lead components are acquired for three Lot 2 aircraft. Initial Lot 1 deliveries are expected to begin in 2029, according to the Navy.
The next major milestones will be continued flight testing, carrier integration, operational evaluation and preparation for fleet introduction.
The MQ-25’s eventual impact will depend on how effectively the Navy integrates the aircraft into carrier operations and how reliably it can provide tanker support without creating additional burdens on the carrier deck.
For now, the latest Boeing contract marks a clear transition: the MQ-25A Stingray is moving from a development program toward production and eventual fleet service as the U.S. Navy’s first operational carrier-based unmanned aircraft.
Executive Summary: The U.S. Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray carrier-based tanker drone is now projected to reach initial operational capability in 2029, extending the program’s schedule beyond earlier targets. At the same time, the Pentagon estimates acquisition costs at $19.4 billion, while GAO has identified production-before-testing, cybersecurity, cost transparency and manufacturing risks that could affect the program’s remaining schedule.
MQ-25 Stingray Faces Another Schedule Setback
The MQ-25 Stingray delay has placed the U.S. Navy’s first operational carrier-based unmanned aircraft under renewed congressional scrutiny, with the Pentagon now projecting initial operational capability in 2029. A Congressional Research Service assessment updated August 12 highlights concerns over the Navy’s decision to proceed with low-rate initial production while important production-representative testing remains incomplete.
The schedule has shifted significantly since the program began. Earlier Navy planning targeted IOC in 2024, followed by revised targets of 2026 and 2027. Current planning points to February 2029, while flight testing is expected to continue into fiscal 2029.
The delay is important because the MQ-25 is not simply another unmanned aircraft procurement. It is intended to establish the Navy’s first operational carrier-based unmanned aviation capability while changing how carrier air wings conduct aerial refueling.
What The MQ-25 Is Designed To Do
The MQ-25A Stingray is being developed primarily as an unmanned aerial tanker. Its central mission is to refuel carrier-based aircraft, allowing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets that currently perform tanker duties to remain available for combat missions.
The Navy’s stated requirement calls for the aircraft to deliver at least 14,000 pounds of fuel at a distance of 500 nautical miles from the carrier. Earlier Navy documentation has also described an objective of carrying as much as 16,000 pounds of fuel at that distance.
MQ-25 Program Element Current Information Primary mission Carrier-based aerial refueling Secondary mission ISR support Planned fleet 76 aircraft Operational aircraft 67 Test and development aircraft 9 Fuel delivery objective At least 14,000 pounds at 500 nautical miles Initial operational capability 2029, currently projected Engine Rolls-Royce AE 3007N Air vehicle manufacturer Boeing Mission-control software Lockheed Martin-developed systems The aircraft is also intended to support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Its larger significance, however, is its role as a foundation for integrating additional unmanned systems into future carrier air wings.
First Production Aircraft Has Already Flown
The schedule setback comes despite measurable progress.
A production-representative MQ-25A completed its first flight on April 25, 2026, from Boeing’s facility at MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois. The aircraft flew for approximately two hours while Navy and Boeing personnel controlled it from the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System MD-5 ground control station.
The Navy subsequently approved Milestone C in May 2026, allowing the program to proceed into low-rate initial production.
That creates an important distinction between program progress and operational readiness. The aircraft has reached flight testing and production authorization, but the Navy still has to complete a substantial body of developmental, operational, cybersecurity and carrier-integration testing before the system can become an operational fleet capability.
Why Testing And Production Are Creating Concern
The central acquisition issue is concurrency.
GAO reported that the MQ-25 program is moving forward with low-rate production before all developmental testing is complete. If flight testing identifies design or manufacturing problems, aircraft already being produced may require modifications. That can increase costs and disrupt the production schedule.
The concern was not identified for the first time in 2026. A 2023 Department of Defense inspector general review also warned about the risks of beginning low-rate production before sufficient testing of the production-representative aircraft had been completed. The Navy responded by revising its risk assessment and delaying some program milestones, but ultimately authorized LRIP in May 2026.
GAO’s latest assessment also identified manufacturing difficulties involving wiring, vibration monitoring and parts qualification. Program officials reported intermediate solutions for those issues, but the problems contributed to schedule pressure.
This creates a difficult acquisition balance. Producing aircraft earlier can protect the industrial schedule and accelerate fleet introduction, but producing before testing is mature increases the possibility that production aircraft will have to be modified later.
Cybersecurity Has Become Another Schedule Risk
The MQ-25 is also dependent on a sophisticated control architecture rather than the aircraft alone.
The Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System, known as MD-5, provides mission planning, flight control and communications functions. The Navy is developing shipboard, shore-based and mobile versions of the system, creating an architecture intended to support the MQ-25 and potentially other unmanned aircraft in future carrier air wings.
GAO found that key cybersecurity testing remains incomplete. The program does not plan to finish certain cybersecurity tests until October 2028, more than two years after the production aircraft’s first flight. GAO warned that completing this work after production begins creates additional risk of cost growth.
For a carrier-based unmanned aircraft, cybersecurity is particularly important because the aircraft depends on digital communications and remote mission control. The system must operate reliably within a complex naval network while maintaining safe control of the aircraft during launch, recovery, refueling and other carrier operations.
MQ-25 Costs Continue To Increase
Cost growth is another issue attracting congressional attention.
The Pentagon’s current acquisition estimate is approximately $19.4 billion, including procurement, development, testing and military construction. The associated acquisition unit cost is approximately $255.8 million per aircraft under the Pentagon’s accounting methodology.
GAO uses a different accounting basis and estimates the program at approximately $16.6 billion, excluding military construction, with an acquisition unit cost of about $218 million. GAO said its unit-cost estimate increased 4% from the previous assessment.
The difference between the two figures does not represent a contradiction. Acquisition programs can produce different unit-cost figures depending on which development, infrastructure and support costs are included.
GAO also found that the Navy was working to obtain better production cost data. The fixed-price nature of the original development contract meant that the program office did not previously have complete visibility into Boeing’s actual aircraft-production costs.
That information becomes increasingly important as the MQ-25 moves from development into production.
Manufacturing Disruptions Added To Schedule Pressure
The program has also faced industrial-base challenges.
GAO reported that MQ-25 construction was affected by a machinists’ strike at Boeing’s St. Louis facility from August through November 2025. The program has also dealt with component qualification and obsolescence issues.
Boeing is building the MQ-25 at its production facility at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois. The company opened the approximately $200 million facility in 2024 as the dedicated production site for the aircraft.
The MQ-25 uses the Rolls-Royce AE 3007N turbofan, produced in Indianapolis, while the aircraft’s refueling system is based on the Cobham Aerial Refueling Store used by tanker-configured F/A-18E/F aircraft.
Why The Delay Matters To Carrier Aviation
The operational effect of the delay extends beyond the MQ-25 program itself.
Carrier air wings currently use modified F/A-18E/F Super Hornets for aerial refueling duties. Those aircraft provide valuable tanker capacity, but every fighter assigned to tanker missions is unavailable for other combat tasks.
The MQ-25 is intended to separate those functions. By assigning aerial refueling to an unmanned platform, the Navy can preserve more Super Hornets for strike and fighter missions while extending the reach of other carrier aircraft.
The operational requirement becomes more significant as the Navy plans for carrier operations at greater distances from potential adversaries. A dedicated carrier tanker can help reduce the range penalty imposed on fighters and other aircraft when they must operate farther from the carrier.
The 2029 IOC target therefore represents more than a procurement delay. It postpones the Navy’s ability to fully exploit a key change in carrier air-wing composition.
The MQ-25 Is Also A Test Of Future Unmanned Carrier Operations
The Stingray’s importance goes beyond aerial refueling.
The Navy has described the MQ-25 and its mission-control architecture as a path toward a future carrier air wing containing a larger number of unmanned aircraft. The experience gained in operating an unmanned aircraft from a carrier deck could influence future unmanned ISR, electronic warfare and other carrier-based missions.
That makes the current testing problems strategically relevant.
The Navy must demonstrate not only that the MQ-25 can fly, but that an unmanned aircraft can safely integrate with a carrier’s launch and recovery cycle, deck operations, communications architecture, maintenance system and manned aircraft.
The first production flight in April demonstrated an important milestone, but it did not by itself establish operational readiness. The remaining test program must validate the aircraft and its supporting systems under increasingly representative conditions.
Congress Faces A Key Acquisition Decision
The MQ-25 is now moving through the exact phase in which Congress and acquisition officials must balance schedule, cost and technical maturity.
The Navy requested $1.75 billion for the MQ-25 program in fiscal 2027, including funding for three aircraft and additional research, development, testing and evaluation work. Pending House and Senate defense bills would provide the requested amount, according to the latest reporting.
Congressional oversight is likely to focus on whether the Navy has sufficient visibility into production costs, whether remaining testing can be completed without major redesigns, and whether cybersecurity work is proceeding quickly enough.
The larger question is whether accelerating production now will ultimately shorten the path to operational service or create additional retrofit and testing costs.
For the MQ-25, that distinction matters because the program is intended to become the Navy’s first operational carrier-based unmanned aircraft. Its success or failure will provide the service with practical evidence about how quickly unmanned systems can be integrated into the carrier air wing at scale.
Bottom Line
The MQ-25 Stingray has made important technical progress in 2026, including the first flight of a production-representative aircraft and Milestone C approval for low-rate initial production. However, those milestones have not eliminated the program’s underlying schedule, testing, cybersecurity and cost risks.
With IOC now projected for 2029, the Navy faces several years of additional testing and integration before the MQ-25 can assume its intended operational role. The program’s performance during that period will be closely watched because it will help determine not only when the Navy receives its first unmanned tanker, but also how confidently it can expand unmanned operations across future carrier air wings.