3,400 kilometers apart! The USS Ronald Reagan remotely controls an MQ-25 tanker for the first time

For the first time, the U.S. Navy remotely controlled the MQ-25A "Stingray" unmanned tanker located in the United States through the ship's control station during the cruise of an aircraft carrier. U.S. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao announced the results of this test on the 19th. At that time, the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) was sailing in the Pacific Ocean and the drone was located in Illinois. The two were more than 2,100 miles (approximately 3,380 kilometers) apart. The two sides were connected through a low-orbit satellite network.

The US military aviation website "The Aviationist" reported that this test, called "Preliminary Sea Trial", focused on verifying the remote connection and control capabilities between the aircraft control station and the drone. This is also a further system test conducted after the Reagan previously completed the installation of the unmanned aviation combat center. It is different from the progress of the ship's equipment modification announced in early October.

The test uses the extended low-orbit satellite network (pLEO) to connect the MD-5C ground control station (GCS) in the Reagan Unmanned Air Warfare Center (UAWC) and the MQ-25A in the United States. The U.S. Navy said the test verified relevant procedures, communication networks and interfaces, and also checked the integration of the control station's software and hardware.

The MD-5C control station is used by the U.S. Navy to control the MQ-25A, and related systems are also planned to support other ship-based unmanned aircraft in the future. The focus of this test is to enable the aircraft carrier to control drones on land through remote connections while sailing at sea, so as to accumulate test experience for subsequent ship-based unmanned aviation operations.

Share refueling tasks with partners and significantly expand the strike range of carrier-based aircraft

The MQ-25A was developed by Boeing. Its main task is to provide aerial refueling for carrier-based fighters. The U.S. Navy hopes to use unmanned tankers to share the partner refueling tasks currently performed by F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters, so that manned fighters can retain more fuel to perform other tasks and expand the scope of combat activities of the carrier air wing.

In addition to remote control testing, Boeing also announced the testing progress of the MQ-25's "Manned and Unmanned Team" (MUM-T) command and control software in early October. The software verifies the command and control functions between manned aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles through the Link 16 military data link; further testing and evaluation are required before it can be integrated into the MQ-25A and F/A-18 series fighter aircraft.

The U.S. Navy awarded Boeing an MQ-25A low-speed initial mass production contract in September, worth approximately US$562 million (approximately NT$18.4 billion), and the total number of unmanned tankers signed has increased to 14.