As you know, the Navy is
developing an unmanned tanker for carrier work.
“After months of deliberation, the name and
designation of the Navy’s first carrier unmanned aerial vehicle are now
official: MQ-25A Stingray …” (1)
Really? It takes us “months of deliberation” just to
come up with the name and designation?!
No wonder we can’t build an F-35 in under two decades! Well, at least the hard part of coming up with a cool sounding name is out of the way.
I wonder how long it will take us to develop an unmanned tanker if it took us months just to come up with a name? Of course, we’ll be able to develop a simple tanker in a lot less time than the F-35, won’t we?
“The emphasis on the first airframe in the program is
primarily aerial refueling, officials said.
’We’re probably going to drop some of the high-end specs and try to grow
the class and increase the survivability [later],’ Vice Adm. Joseph Mulloy,
deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources, told
USNI News in February. ’It
has to be more refueling, a little bit of ISR, weapons later and focus on its
ability to be the flying truck.’ ” (1)
Well, that should shorten
the developmental cycle, right?
“The final RfP [Request for Proposal] for the air
segment is set for 2018.” (1)
It’s going to take us a year
and half
to two years just to
generate an RfP? That doesn’t bode well
for how long the actual aircraft will take to be fielded.
“The service hopes to have the first Stingrays
operational in the 2020s.” (1)
Let’s be generous and say
the MQ-25 will be operational in 2025.
That’s 9 years from now. Nine
years to field a not terribly advanced tanker with a little ISR capability –
and, of course, we know that schedule will slip. So, close to a decade to field a simple
unmanned tanker based on existing unmanned technology. No wonder the F-35 is taking so long! There is something seriously wrong with our
developmental cycles.
If it is truly going to take
a decade or more to field a tanker, maybe we should be seriously looking at
bringing back the S-3 Viking as an interim tanker. The Marines are bringing old F-18s back from
the boneyard in short order so why not bring the Viking back? If we don’t, we’re looking at ten more years
of wear and tear on our front line tanker-Hornets. That’s wear and tear we can’t afford.
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(1)USNI website, “It’s
Official: ‘MQ-25A Stingray’ U.S. Navy’s Name For First Carrier UAV”, Sam
LaGrone, July 15, 2016 ,
