The initial production representative MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone for the U.S. Navy has completed its first low-speed taxi test. The service has said it is now targeting a first flight for the uncrewed aircraft early this year, after missing a self-imposed deadline to reach that milestone before the end of 2025.
The taxi test took place at Boeing’s facility at MidAmerica Airport, situated outside of St. Louis, Missouri, according to social media posts from the company and Naval Air Systems (NAVAIR). Navy personnel from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 (VX-23) and Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 24 (UX-24), the latter of which is focused specifically on supporting the development of uncrewed aerial systems, participated in the event, per NAVAIR.
Taxing testing, with the drone moving under its own power, is a critical step toward a first flight. When exactly this milestone was achieved is not immediately clear, and TWZ has reached out to NAVAIR and Boeing for more information.
Boeing had previously announced the start of ground testing of the production representative MQ-25 last summer. A flying MQ-25 demonstrator, also known as T1, has been used in flight and ground testing in support of the Stingray program for years now. However, it is a test article that is not fully reflective of the production-standard aircraft.
The footage released today provides new views of the drone’s exotic top-mounted ‘flush’ air inlet and its engine exhaust inset inside the fuselage, as seen at the top of this story and below. TWZ has drawn particular attention to the inlet in the past, which speaks to the design’s other low observable (stealthy) features, as well as its overall design, despite this not being an explicit focus of the MQ-25 program.
Boeing has previously confirmed to us that the MQ-25’s design was influenced by the company’s submission to the Navy’s abortive Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program. UCLASS envisioned a stealthy carrier-based drone capable of performing kinetic strikes and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Despite significant work toward fielding that capability, including ground-breaking flight testing using a pair of X-47B drones built by Northrop Grumman, the Navy subsequently abandoned the UCLASS plans in favor of an uncrewed tanker. That decision, in turn, led to the MQ-25.
The video also offers a new look at the production representative Stingray configuration’s retractable sensor turret under the nose. Turrets like these typically contain a mixture of electro-optical and infrared cameras, and sometimes also have laser range finders, laser spot markers, and laser designators. In addition to its primary role as a pilotless aerial refueling platform, the Navy says the MQ-25 will have a secondary ISR function. The Stingray’s overall design opens up the possibility that it could take on other missions, including kinetic strike, in the future, as TWZ has previously explored in detail.
Boeing has otherwise been working in recent years to deliver nine pre-production Stingrays, five of which will be used for fatigue and other static testing work. The Navy plans to eventually acquire a total of 76 Stingrays, and has been most recently targeting 2027 for reaching initial operational capability (IOC) with the type.
The MQ-25 program has been beset by delays and cost growth in recent years. The original goal had been for the initial batch of pre-production Stingrays to be delivered in 2022 and for the type to reach IOC in 2024. Last year, the Navy repeatedly stressed that it was working hard to finally get to first flight before 2026.
“We will fly MQ-25 in ‘25. You can quote me on that,” Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, Commander of Naval Air Forces, said in January 2025. “We will fly that platform in ‘25 and get that thing on a carrier in ‘26 and start integrating that thing.”
“There’s a lot of confidence in MQ-25 and [20]25. There is a ton of work to get MQ-25 and ’25,” now-retired Navy Vice Adm. Carl Chebi, then head of Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), had also said last April. “70% of the capability that we deliver, [that] industry delivers to us, is late. So we’re pushing hard.”
Needless to say, the first flight schedule subsequently slipped into 2026.
These hurdles aside, Navy officials continue to be outspoken in their support of the MQ-25 program, which they see as offering critical range extension for current and future aircraft embarked on the service’s carriers. The Navy also wants the Stingrays so it can stop flying crewed F/A-18F Super Hornets in the tanker role, which makes up a significant number of their sorties while deployed, helping free up those aircraft for other missions and reducing the wear and tear on those airframes.
The Navy also regularly talks about the MQ-25 being a “pathfinder” for other future carrier-based uncrewed aviation capabilities. As far back as 2021, the service has been talking about a goal to eventually see 60 percent or more of the aircraft in carrier air wings become uncrewed.
Last year, the Navy announced a new surge in efforts to acquire a fleet of carrier-based Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones, hiring four companies (Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, and Northrop Grumman) to develop conceptual designs. Lockheed Martin is also now under contract to the Navy to develop an underlying common control architecture. NAVAIR has now also established a CCA-focused Future Advanced Capability (FAC) program office. The Navy previously entered into a formal agreement with the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps to work together on CCA developments to ensure interoperability, including the ability to seamlessly exchange control of drones during future operations.
In the meantime, beyond just getting the MQ-25 flying, the Navy still has much work to do in integrating the Stingray into routine operations. As noted, critical command and control architectures, along with related tactics, techniques, and procedures, are still being developed.
The Stingrays will also have to be woven into the existing cadence of flight deck operations, including just figuring out how to move them around amid the hustle and bustle of other activity. Carrier decks are very constrained environments physically, and present very different conditions to operate in compared to bases on land. This is true even for crewed aircraft operations, where individuals onboard can provide additional situational awareness. A wearable glove-like system that personnel could use for deck handling was notably used during testing of the X-47B. A different kind of portable control device has been used in testing of the T1 MQ-25 demonstrator in the past, as well. The video released today does not appear to offer any major new insights into how the Navy plans to maneuver the Stingray around on carrier decks.
The Navy has also been developing new force structures and training pipelines to support the MQ-25 program.
With the start of taxi-testing, the MQ-25 is at least now one step closer to its first flight.
Update: 3:12 PM EST —
Boeing and the Navy have now confirmed to TWZ that the first taxi test occurred yesterday.
“The first U.S. Navy MQ-25A Stingray is in the final stages of ground testing and completed its first taxi test yesterday,” a company spokesperson told us in a statement. “Boeing and the Navy will now conduct additional taxi tests and then complete deliberate systems level testing and review and approve the final airworthiness artifacts needed for a flight clearance. Once that’s complete and we have a suitable weather window, the aircraft will fly.”
“The [MQ-25] aircraft is now in the final stages of ground testing and successfully completed its first low-speed taxi test [on] January 29,” Navy Rear Adm. Tony Rossi, Program Executive Officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons (PEO U&W), also told TWZ in a statement. “The team is finalizing systems testing and flight clearance, with the first flight planned once certification is complete and weather permits.”
“The MQ-25A Navy–Boeing team continues to make progress toward first flight,” Rossi added. “Over the last several months, the team has completed MQ-25A Stingray structural testing on a static aircraft, conducted initial engine runs, completed its flight-certified software, and commanded the vehicle from the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System (UMCS).”
Contact the author: joe@twz.com