MQ-25 Stingray Tanker Drone Has Completed Its First Test Flight

#MQ25 has completed its first test flight! This historic milestone puts the @USNavy’s first operational unmanned aerial refueler a step closer to the carrier fleet.

RELEASE: https://t.co/xiPWugzuaN pic.twitter.com/VYu6ztjWxx

— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) September 19, 2019

Warzone/The Drive: Boeing's MQ-25 Stingray Carrier-Based Tanker Drone Demonstrator Flies For The First Time

The company will be working with this test asset for at least the next two years as it crafts its first full prototypes for the U.S. Navy.

Boeing's MQ-25 Stingray carrier-based tanker drone test asset, known as T1, has flown for the first time at MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois. The company is developing the Stingray for the U.S. Navy and plans to continue testing T1 in the coming years as it works toward the first flight of a full engineering and manufacturing development prototype in 2021.

T1, short for "Tail 1," which also carries the U.S. civil registration code N234MQ, conducted an autonomous taxi and takeoff and then flew an approximately two-hour-long predetermined route on Sept. 19, 2019. Boeing test pilots oversaw the unmanned aircraft's flight from a ground control station at MidAmerica Airport, where this complete initial flight test program will occur. The drone arrived at the airport, which is co-located with the U.S. Air Force's Scott Air Force Base, in April 2019. Boeing had conducted a variety of ground tests at its St. Louis plant before that.

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WNU Editor: That is one big drone. In the first few second of the above video, you tell that it is a huge drone when compared to the car parked beside it.