The US Navy said on 19 October that it had remotely controlled a Boeing MQ-25A Stingray from an aircraft carrier sailing in the Pacific. The carrier was more than 2,100 miles from the aircraft in Illinois. The Navy described the connection as the first of its kind between an MQ-25A and a carrier underway at sea.
The preliminary sea trial took place aboard the Nimitz-class USS Ronald Reagan. Personnel at the ship’s Unmanned Air Warfare Center established a satellite connection with the aircraft at Boeing’s facility in Mascoutah, Illinois. The connection used the carrier’s MD-5C Ground Control Station and a low Earth orbit satellite network, enabling communication and control beyond normal line-of-sight range. The trial did not include an aerial refuelling demonstration.
