US Navy controls MQ-25A Stingray refuelling drone from carrier ground station
A ground control station aboard the USS Ronald Reagan was used to command an MQ-25A Stingray in flight, the Navy announced. The test is part of work to bring unmanned aerial refuelling into carrier operations.
The US Navy controlled an MQ-25A Stingray through a ground control station installed on an aircraft carrier for the first time, Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao announced on October 19, 2026. The Navy said the aircraft was launched from Boeing's site at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois, while USS Ronald Reagan was at sea in the Pacific.
The Navy called the exercise a Preliminary Sea Trial. It linked the aircraft to the MD-5C ground control station in the ship's Unmanned Air Warfare Center using a Proliferated Low Earth Orbit satellite network. The service described the trial as one of a series of build-up exercises meant to check procedures, networks and interfaces. The statement gave no date for the test and released no images of it.
Boeing said separately on October 6 that it had tested Manned-Unmanned Teaming software for the Stingray during the Emerald Flag exercise at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The Link 16-based software was fitted to a Beechcraft 1900D and a King Air E90 to show command and control passing between the two crewed aircraft. Boeing intends to pair the capability with the MQ-25A and the F/A-18 Super Hornet after further testing and evaluation.
Sources
- theaviationist.comMQ-25A Stingray Remotely Controlled from USS Ronald Reagan