A flying gas pump is coming off the Hornet: Why does an aircraft carrier need an unmanned tanker?
The deployment of the MQ-25A Stingray aboard the USS Nimitz during FLEETEX 250 marks a major step toward introducing unmanned refueling to US carrier operations.
On June 25, 2026, a device appeared on the deck of the Nimitz, which was immediately spread across the media as a “new era of aircraft carrier aviation" Tailless, without a canopy, with a large "250" on its side (a reference to the country's anniversary), it stood alongside F/A-18E multirole fighters and Greyhound transports, and against the backdrop of manned aircraft, it looked not like a miniature unmanned "small fry," but like a combat aircraft equal in size and appearance. It's a beautiful shot. True, it has a detail that is usually omitted from photo captions: this particular aircraft didn't land on the Nimitz; it was brought aboard the ship and lifted onto the deck by crane. That is, the "era" in this photo isn't yet visible. And yet, something else is more interesting than the scene itself. MQ-25 Stingray What's important is not the loud formulation about the era, but the closing of a very old hole that fleet patched up for half a century.
Unloved Job: How a Refueling Station Roamed the Air Wing
A carrier air wing has always needed its own tanker—right on deck, not somewhere on a shore airfield. The logic is simple: an aircraft takes off with a limited supply, needs to be topped up with fuel immediately after takeoff, supported en route to its target, and backed up on its return. If an aircraft misses the arresting gear cables and goes around again, it may not have enough fuel to land safely, and that's where a nearby tanker comes in handy. KC-135 You can't fit into this rhythm. A tanker must live on deck—take off, land, and stay in formation (the battle formation of ships) with everyone else.
Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, the primary tanker of the US Air Force
For half a century, this work was carried out by combat aircraft. Since the late 1960s, the main "organic" tanker has been KA-6D Intruder, converted from the A-6 attack aircraft: some of its combat payload was removed, refueling units were installed, and its fuel capacity was increased. A typical wing in the early 1980s carried four or five of these aircraft, and they performed three missions at once: picking up aircraft just taking off, hovering over the ship during landings, and escorting strike groups. Hence the nickname "Texaco" (named after a well-known chain of gas stations) flying over the carrier.
A U.S. Navy Grumman A-6E Intruder performing mid-air refueling of two French Dassault Super Étendard attack aircraft.
After the Intruders were decommissioned, the role passed to S-3B VikingThe vehicle was built as an anti-submarine ship, but with the end of the Cold War, the underwater threat receded, and the fuel-efficient, long-range Viking was repurposed, including as a tanker. When it was decommissioned, the navy no longer had a dedicated deck refuelling tanker. The role fell to F/A-18E/F Super Hornet with an external refueling unit and additional tanks.
Two American Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter jets performing an aerial refueling maneuver. One aircraft acts as a tanker, transferring fuel to the other via a slingshot system.
Herein lies the problem. The Super Hornet, sent to work as a gas station, carries fuel on its pylons instead of missiles and bombs. It's a combat multirole aircraft, dedicated to non-combat duties. Every sortie as a tanker means one aircraft in a strike or air defense configuration is lost. So it turned out that for half a century, the navy shifted the unloved refueling task from one combat aircraft to another, and for the last twenty years, since the Vikings were decommissioned, it has been without a dedicated tanker altogether, paying for it with the combat potential of the air wing's best aircraft.
X-47B: An ancestor designed for attack, but turned out to be useful for refueling
History MQ-25 starts with a strike droneIn the program UCAS-D (deck strike demonstrator drone) Northrop Grumman built X-47B, a tailless, stealthy vehicle designed to operate deep in the protected area DefenseThe goal was ambitious: to prove that a drone could live on an aircraft carrier alongside manned aircraft.
A Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) on the deck of an aircraft carrier.
This has been proven. On July 10, 2013, the X-47B autonomously landed and braked on the deck of the USS George Bush, following commands from the onboard system, without manual remote control. And on April 22, 2015, it also autonomously took on fuel in mid-air from a tanker for the first time in history. Two key capabilities of the future carrier-based drone—operation in the carrier cycle and in-flight refueling—were confirmed not just on paper, but in actual flights.
Then the program's logic broke down. The Navy reconsidered the strike program, which was supposed to evolve into UCLASS—the carrier-based reconnaissance and attack drone program. A stealthy attack drone for operations in dense air defense zones is expensive, time-consuming, and requires upending the entire doctrine of manned strike aircraft. Instead, the Navy chose a more modest, but truly pressing, task: a tanker. Not because they couldn't afford a strike drone, but because the gap in tanker support was urgent and immediate, and the solution was clear and relatively inexpensive. The Navy chose a boring solution over a spectacular one: a common occurrence when money and time are tight.
The outcome of the competition is also revealing. Northrop Grumman, the architect of this entire effort, withdrew from the MQ-25 competition in 2017, dissatisfied with the aircraft's stripped-down, tanker-like appearance. The contract went to Boeing. Thus, the X-47B remained the Stingray's technological ancestor, but not its direct predecessor: a different developer, a different aircraft, a different priority. Only the lessons of carrier-based autonomy and refueling were inherited.
MQ-25A: What it can and can't do yet
The MQ-25A is the world's first production carrier-based unmanned refueling tanker. Its dimensions fit within an air wing, even without any allowance for unmanned operation: approximately 15,5 meters long, with a wingspan of approximately 22,8 meters, and approximately 9,5 meters with the wings folded. It's shorter than the Super Hornet, but significantly wider in span, taking up the same amount of deck space as a manned aircraft. This isn't some "light platform" tucked into a corner: it consumes as much space during catapult and taxiing as a manned aircraft.
The Boeing MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aerial vehicle, which became the first aircraft to refuel a manned fighter jet in mid-air.
Its mission is narrow and specific: to fly approximately 500 nautical miles from the aircraft carrier, deliver approximately seven tons of fuel to a group of aircraft, and return to the ship. After refueling at such a tanker hundreds of miles from the ship, the fighter can continue its mission even further, and the Hornets stop wasting their own sorties as fuel refueling stations and return to their strike and air defense role. The carrier itself is then able to maintain its range farther from shore: if the fighters refuel in the air hundreds of miles from the ship, the ship does not need to approach dangerous areas. According to open source estimates, the total operational radius of carrier-based aircraft increases by hundreds of miles, but the exact figures depend on the mission configuration and have not been published in detail.
The program reached a turning point in 2026. In April, a production aircraft, not a demonstrator but a representative of the production model, took to the air for the first time. In May, the program was cleared for low-volume production, reaching Milestone C. The Navy plans to receive a total of 76 aircraft; in service, they will be designated KQ-25 and will form two squadrons, VUQ-11 and VUQ-12. However, the timeline has slipped: initial operational capability was once planned for around 2027, but now the end of the decade is increasingly being cited. The fleet needed a tanker twenty years ago, and it will likely receive it closer to the end of the 2020s, unless the timeline slips again.
Demonstrator on Deck: The Stage and Beyond
Let's return to the shot from the Nimitz. On deck was not a production MQ-25A, but a demonstrator. T-1, owned by Boeing, is the same aircraft that practiced refueling with the F/A-18, F-35C, and E-2D. It was tied to four Super Hornets and a pair of Greyhounds, and the number "250" on its side refers to the country's anniversary.
The scene accurately depicts the drone's dimensions and compatibility. You can see how the drone fits among the combat aircraft, how much space it takes up on the catapults and taxiways, and how it fits into the deck's geometry. For the Navy, this is a real-world test of "fit," not just a pretty picture. The most complex aspect remains behind the scenes: the tanker's full deck-based operation, with autonomous takeoff, landing, and refueling above the ship. This aircraft has never taken off or landed from the Nimitz's deck; it was, as a reminder, delivered by sea and installed by crane. The MQ-25's actual deck operations are still to come.
The stage set is also telling. FLEETEX 250 brought together 26 ships from 13 countries, and the Nimitz was the core of the force. The ship itself is the lead nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of its class. CVN-68, which is close to decommissioning in the second half of the 2020s. On the same deck are an aircraft carrier, close to being scrapped, and a machine that will continue to serve for decades after the ship is scrapped. The symbolism is obvious, but the reality is simpler: the old ship is transporting its replacement.
An unmanned tanker in the carrier cycle is no longer a question of "whether" but "when." The chain of KA-6D, S-3, and Super Hornet led precisely here: sooner or later, the unloved job had to be removed from the combat pilot and given to a machine without a cockpit. So this isn't a new era. Rather, it's finally closing the book on half a century of temporary solutions.
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