T
HE US NAVY announced
the selection of
Boeing as the winner
of its competition to
build the MQ-25A
Stingray carrier-based
unmanned refueling aircraft on
August 31. Under the terms of the
$805.3-million contract, Boeing will
produce four air vehicle prototypes.
Ultimately, the contractor could
build as many as 72 Stingrays at
a cost of around $13 billion. It
initially received $79 million in
funding for the project, provided
by US Naval Air Systems Command
from research and development
accounts. The service has requested
an additional $719 million in scal
2019 research and development
funding for the program.
The navy has been working on
an unmanned carrier-based air
vehicle since 1999 but cancelled
its Unmanned Carrier Launched
Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS)program in 2016. The UCLASS would
have provided the carrier air wing
with a stealthy, unmanned, strike,
stealth and intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance capability. The
program was resurrected that same
year as the unmanned Carrier-Based
Air Refueling System (CBARS).
Boeing’s stealthy model T1 was
selected over competing designs
from General Atomics and Lockheed
Martin. Developed by Boeing’s
Phantom Works, the air vehicle’s
design features a wing-body-tail
con guration. It will be powered
by a single Rolls-Royce AE3007N
turbofan engine that will provide
more than 10,000lb st (44.48kN) of
thrust. The AE3000H (F137-RR-100)
version of the engine powers the US
Navy’s long-range MQ-4C UAS.
Although it has conducted ground
handing trials, the prototype has
not yet own. The aircraft received
the civil registration N234MQ in
December 2017.The navy anticipates delivery
of the rst MQ-25A development
aircraft to occur during scal 2020.
First ight will take place in scal
2021, and the Stingray should
achieve initial operational capability
as early as 2024.
The service is serving as the
integrator for the program’s three
segments, which include the air
vehicle, carrier, and control system
and connectivity. Under the terms
of the 2019 National Defense
Authorization Act, the navy will
modify the Nimitz-class aircraft
carrier USS George Washington
(CVN 73) in order to accommodate
the MQ-25A. That work will likely
be carried out during the course of
the ship’s four-year refueling and
complex overhaul (RCOH) process,
which is currently under way at
Newport News Shipbuilding in
Virginia. It could, however, also
be performed during a follow-on
maintenance period.RAPTORS INTERCEPT
‘BEARS’ AND ‘FLANKERS’
TWO RUSSIAN Tu 95 bombers
were intercepted by a pair
of F-22As from the 3rd Wing
near Alaska on September- The bombers were being
accompanied by two Russian
Aerospace Forces (VKS) Su-
ghters when they were
intercepted in international
airspace west of mainland
Alaska. The US ghters
shadowed the Russian aircraft
until they departed the Alaska
Air Defense Identi cation Zone
(ADIZ). The Russian aircraft
never entered US or Canadian
airspace. USAF F-22As were
also scrambled on September
1 to escort a pair of Tu-95s
that breached the Alaska ADIZ
south of the Aleutian Islands.
The ight took the ‘Bears’ over
the Arctic Ocean, the Bering
Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk.
DEPLOYMENT NEWSCarrier corner
The USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75)
Carrier Strike Group (CSG) returned
to sea after a brief stay at its home
port in Norfolk, Virginia, on August- The ship had departed from
Norfolk on April 11, and returned
on July 21 for an extended port
visit. Following its departure, the
group conducted sustainment
operations and carrier quali cations
in the Atlantic and participated in
dual-carrier operations with the
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). The
deployment is the rst under the
navy’s dynamic force employment
concept, which will ensure that the
eet remains exible and ready to
deploy on short notice. Carrier air
wing CVW-1’s aircraft are embarked
aboard the carrier and its aviation-
capable escorts.
‘Ample Strike’
Six F-16C/Ds operated by the
195th Fighter Squadron of the
Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd
Wing arrived at Náměšť Air Base,
Czech Republic, for participation
in Exercise ‘Ample Strike 2018’. The
exercise, which ran from August31-September 15, was intended
to enhance multi-national co-
operation between 19 participating
nations and provide training for
joint terminal attack controllers
(JTACs). The deployment, the
rst for the unit in 31 years, was
supported by KC-135Rs operated
by the Nebraska Air National
Guard’s 155th Air Refueling Wing.
The Arizona F-16s ew more than
60 sorties during the exercise.TSP Eagles
F-15C/Ds assigned to the
Massachusetts and Oregon Air
National Guard’s 104th and 142nd
Fighter Wings completed a six-
month deployment to Europe in
support of a European theater
security package (TSP). The Eagles,
which were operated by the
123rd and 131st Expeditionary
Fighter Squadron (EFS), originally
arrived at Leeuwarden Air Base
in the Netherlands on March
18 and returned Stateside in
early September. They had been
operating from the 71st Air Base,
Câmpia Turzii Air Base, Romania,
since June.LEGION POD TO EQUIP USAF EAGLES
BOEING HAS RECEIVED a
$208.3-million contract from the
USAF to integrate the Lockheed
Martin Legion Pod with the
F-15C. It provides for engineering,
manufacturing and development,
production, integration, testing
and deployment of the pod.
The 98.5in (2.5m), 550lb (249kg)
pod will feature an AN/ASG-
IRST21 infra-red search and track
(IRST) sensor and an advanced
processor that will provide the ghter with a passive capability
to detect and track aerial targets
using their thermal signature. It
improves the Eagle’s capability
to detect targets in radar-denied
environments or when use of
that sensor is not desired. The
pod is designed to accommodate
and operate multiple sensors
simultaneously. The USAF plans
to procure as many as 130
Legion pods. They will be elded
beginning in 2020.THE ‘GAZELLE’ IS BACK
TOPGUN F/A-18C BuNo 164646/37, fi rst noted at Fallon in February, has
been out of action over the summer for maintenance but was noted
fl ying again at the station in September. Nicknamed the ‘Gazelle’, the
Hornet is used by TOPGUN instructors as an adversary aircraft.
Jim DunnUNITED STATES [NEWS]
http://www.combataircraft.net // November 2018 11