Boeing's MQ-25 Tanker Drone Trucked To Air Base Near St. Louis For Flight Testing [3/4] - Boeing's MQ-25 Tanker Drone.jpg (1/1)

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...flight-testing

Boeing's MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone—the aircraft that won the U.S. Navy's
Carrier-Based Aerial Refueling System (CBARS) contract last Fall—is on the move
in a fairly spectacular fashion. Motorists, including one of our readers, saw
the exotic looking drone being trucked on Missouri roads on the evening of
Sunday, April 28th, 2019. Apparently, the aircraft is headed to MidAmerica
Airport for testing. Up until now, the MQ-25 prototype hasn't left the confines
of St. Louis's Lambert International Airport, where Boeing's tactical aircraft
plant is.

MidAmerica Airport is co-located with Scott AFB on the outskirts of St. Louis.
According to our contacts at Boeing, the MQ-25 will conduct flight testing from
MidAmerican Airport. Boeing's CEO Dennis Muilenburg told investors on a January
30th phone call that the company plans to fly their existing MQ-25 demonstrator
in 2019. The first of four Engineering & Manufacturing Development (EMD)
aircraft the Navy has ordered is scheduled to fly for the first time sometime in
2021. Clearly, using the existing aircraft Boeing already has will help offset
risk and enhance the quality of the EMD aircraft and their support
infrastructure once they roll out of Boeing's St. Louis plant.

Moving exotic looking aircraft via road can spur quite the buzz and plenty of
theories to go along with it. At least in the MQ-25's case, that hasn't seemed
to have occurred.

We will keep you apprised as Boeing's potentially revolutionary carrier-based
tanker drone marches towards its first flight.





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