Carrier gets control room for Stingray drones
August 26, 2024
The final Nimitz-class supercarrier, the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), has been fitted with a new Unmanned Air Warfare Center (UAWC). The UAWC has an Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System (UMCS) MD-5E Ground Control Station, which is the ‘system-of-systems’ required to control the Boeing MQ-25 Stingray.
The MQ-25 is the first carrier-based unmanned aerial system (UAS) employed by the US Navy. It is taking over the air-to-air refuelling role from the F/A-18E/F Super Hornets now used for the task. The MQ-25 could eventually also assume some intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) roles, further enhancing the capacity and versatility of the Carrier Air Wing and Carrier Strike Group. The refuelling role currently accounts for 20 to 30% of the Super Hornet’s flight time, and transferring the role to the Stingray UAS will help to extend the life of the USN’s Super Hornets.
The new UAWC on the USS George H.W. Bush will accommodate the MQ-25 Stingray operators of Unmanned Carrier-Launched Multi-Role Squadron Ten (VUQ-10), who will be able to control the MQ-25 directly from the carrier.
The USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), was the tenth and final Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier, and is the first warship to receive the new UAWC. This was installed as a part of a “multi-year effort coordinated across multiple ship availability periods” fitting in with the carrier’s busy “deployment schedule.”
Operators will use the actual GCS hardware and software aboard CVN 77 to communicate with a simulated air vehicle in the lab in Pax River, before the first sea testing of the UAWC’s operational networks on CVN-77 begins early next year.
Program Manager Capt. Daniel Fucito of PMA-268 said that: “CVN 77’s UAWC lays the foundation for how the US Navy will operate and control unmanned aircraft, and perhaps other unmanned vehicles, with UMCS. These systems will initially support the MQ-25 but also future unmanned systems such as Collaborative Combat Aircraft that comprise the Air Wing of the Future.”
Current plans envisage all Nimitz-class and Gerald R. Ford-class carriers to eventually be made capable of operating the MQ-25. Initially, installation is planned for the carriers Carl Vinson, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, beginning in fiscal year 2025.
