The MQ-25 Stingray carrier-based tanker drone refueled the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye long-range radar detection aircraft in the air for the first time. According to the US Navy, this happened during tests on August 18.
Boeing received a contract for the development, production and testing of four MQ-25s in 2018. The tanker drone is made according to the classical aircraft scheme with a trapezoidal fuselage in cross-section and a wing of normal sweep. Its keels have large tilt angles, so they also work as horizontal stabilizers in flight. The nozzle of the MQ-25 engine is flat, which makes it less noticeable in the radar and infrared spectra.
Last summer [...], refueling equipment was installed on the drone. The container with the "hose-cone" system was suspended on a pylon under the left wing console of the MQ-25. Last winter, Boeing conducted flight tests of a drone with refueling equipment and checked how it affects the aerodynamics of the aircraft.
The MQ-25 refueled the aircraft for the first time in the air on June 4. It was an F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter. The tests were considered successful, and the MQ-25 became the first drone in history to participate in aerial refueling.
The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye long-range radar detection aircraft began receiving an air refueling system in 2019. It was developed and tested by Northrop Grumman. The system consists of fuel supply control equipment, a fuel line and a fuel receiver in the form of a rod installed above the cockpit. It should increase the duration of the flight of the "flying radar", which is about five hours.
The MQ-25 UAV refueled the E-2D in the air on August 18. The flight lasted six hours and took place at an altitude of about three thousand meters. The E-2D approached the drone at a speed of 220 knots, and then made contact with it. The MQ-25 transferred fuel to the aircraft, and the tests were considered successful. The tests of the tanker drone will last for several more months: it should demonstrate flight in different modes, as well as takeoff and landing on an aircraft carrier . Its production should begin next year.
For aerial refueling, Boeing is developing not only a drone, but also a KC-46A Pegasus tanker aircraft. Earlier we wrote that he was allowed to use the "hose-cone" system under the center section and the rod in operational tasks. However, while in a limited mode.
Vasilisa Chernyavtseva
