The first US super carrier to fight with unmanned aircraft

Conflicts such as the Battle of Midway and fictional depictions including the Top Gun films lionised the image of US Navy pilots risking their lives flying dangerous missions from aircraft carriers. But in future such operations may be flown without having a pilot on board, after the American military installed its first high-tech command centre for controlling all types of unmanned drones. USS George HW Bush is the first of the US Navy’s 11 carriers to be fitted with an unmanned air warfare centre, a dedicated command system which will be capable of masterminding what will become an increasingly important role in naval operations. With armed and surveillance drones now an endemic part of battlefield planning on land, as highlighted by the war in Ukraine, the US Navy has been pushing ahead with introducing unmanned systems to fly alongside the fighter wing of advanced combat jets. The first drone to become operational on USS George HW Bush will be the MQ-25A Stingray, a $136 million unmanned air-refuelling tanker, set to be tested next spring. It will be the world’s first operational, carrier-based unmanned aircraft. “The upcoming tests will be an historic moment in naval aviation,” a US Navy official involved in the unmanned carrier aviation programme, said. Having Stingray on board the carrier will extend the combat range of the warship’s F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jets from around 500 miles to 800 miles. The tanker drone, developed by Boeing, is 51ft long with a 75ft wingspan and can carry more than ten tons of fuel. The significance of the special drone command centre is that following the introduction of the Stingray tanker, the US Navy will then focus on putting a whole range of different types of drones onto the carrier, including surveillance and armed aerial vehicles. Landing a drone on a carrier has involved the creation of complex algorithms to ensure safe arrival on the flight deck. It’s always a challenge for a pilot to land on a carrier, especially if there is a strong cross wind or the sea is turbulent. But since manned fighter jet carrier landings first began in the late 1940s, pilots have learned to adapt swiftly to different weather and sea conditions. Drones, lacking the human judgment capability, face a bigger challenge. But the new command system fitted to USS George HW Bush will enable the Stingray to land with little if any human involvement. The MQ-25 Stingray first carried out an air-to-air refuelling test with a Super Hornet jet in June, 2021, launching from an airport in Illinois. Currently the carrier-based refuelling mission is performed by the F/A-18E Super Hornet which means there are fewer fighter jets available for operational flights. The US navy plans to buy about 70 Stingrays at a total programme cost of $16.5 billion. All Nimitz-class and the new Gerald R Ford-class carriers will eventually carry Stingrays on board.