The navy’s robot tanker comes – even when the fleet is integrated

On board the USS Abraham Lincoln –Deep in the fuselage of this aircraft carrier there is a space over the size of three shipping containers, which are intended for the manned future of the Naval Aviation. When the Lincoln emerges from its next overhaul, the area will consider the command center to be the untrustworthy aircraft of the air wing, captain Pete Riebe told reporters during a recent visit.

The first to arrive is the MQ-25, the slim tanker made by Boeing, which is to carry out most of the air-wing tank in the coming years.

It has been more than three years since a MQ-25 has made its first demonstration flight on a carrier. But Vice ADM. Daniel Cheever, who heads the Marine air forces, swears that the production model will fly this year and operates from an airline – although probably not the Lincoln.

“We will fly MQ-25 in ’25. You can quote me about it, ”said Cheever on Tuesday at the West 2025 conference in San Diego. “We will fly this platform ’25 and bring the thing into ’26 to a carrier and integrate this thing. This unlock the future of the manned team. “

Adding the air tank -uav -Air aircraft into the air wing will help increase the range and endurance of the Marine strike aircraft, Cheever, but the associated control of the carrier itself enables a broader integration of robot aircraft.

“We are so hard, so we can use an aircraft carrier to a large extent unmanned teams, and this is another world. It opens the future of 6th generation (combat aircraft), collaborative fighter plane and everything that comes afterwards, ”he said.

Robots and autonomous platforms have ADM for the head of the marine operations. Lisa Franchetti, whose Navplan in 2024 she as one of the seven elements in project 33.

Now the fleet finds out how to combine autonomous systems and traditional maritime craft.

“There is a question of how all this will be integrated, that I think that the government and industry have to struggle together,” said Chris Brose, Chief Strategy Officer from Dronemaker Anduril, on Tuesday during a panel on replicator in West 2025.

“This must be something in which the government is actually a little more assertive on some critical things that determine these conditions. From the point of view of the software, how all of these functions come together in this entire mission element, from automatic target recognition to autonomy at the mission level to the algorithms, which are based on the various behaviors. I think all of these different things have to be ruled by a government reference architecture in which the government can have confidence in the compilation of these pieces. “

Brose spoke about the Pentagon’s replicator initiative, a cross-military plan to create thousands of unnecessary drones that can be used in all areas by August 2025.

To get there, companies had to compete to show how their technology corresponds to real problems, require flexibility on a compressed timeline to see what works.

“I think it’s okay to say loud that we don’t know what our requirements are. The program will naturally be liquid, ”said Brose. “The resources must be liquid. You will probably get on board and off-boarding companies pretty quickly. And all of this has to be switched off in a real environment, whereby the government offers a laser focus on the operational problems that the industry has to solve … and it is very different from me, as the Ministry of Defense usually thinks of programs . And that’s okay. “

Counter doctor Seiko Okano, head of Marine Information Warfare Systems command, said that the navy learned which systems can be faster and the operators encouraged to speak to companies and vice versa.

“It is really about learning and then repairing and then delivering skills and speed. And I think it doesn’t end where we think it ends, ”said Okano in the same panel. “I think this is in my opinion a continuous approach for operations, which in turn is something that is different than before.”

Drones from the replicator efforts are already being used when the team led by the Defense Innovation Unit works with the software glue to hold the drone swarms together. In addition, the US Pacific Fleet has started to experiment with drone integration.

“In the Pacific fleet, we founded unmanned surface ships (and) unmanned underwater vehicles in order to complement our existing unmanned air squadrons. We have brought our experimental efforts to the operational environment in the operational surroundings in the next few years, ”said ADM. Steven Koehler, commander of the US Pacific fleet, during a panel on Tuesday.

“The DIU replicator initiative is driving the field of many of these unwritten platforms. Replicator 1 already sets up inexpensive autonomous systems for all domains. This includes unmanned surface ships, unmanned air systems and counter -manner air systems from various sizes and payloads as well as delivered ammunition. And now Replicator 2 is dealing with the autonomous system threat to our installations and strength concentrations. “

As soon as the industry and the marine let the electrons flow in the right direction, the question of integrating robot systems in fleet tactics is. Several marine outfits work, especially in the fifth and fourth fleet that include the Middle East and South America.

With regard to the MQ-25- and carrier Air Wings, Cheever plans to hand over the trainers of the fleet warstacts of the fleet-one Art Top weapons certification for civil servants in other specialties.

“I think I will only turn the weapon tactic teachers loosely for the integration,” he said. “And you will find out exactly how to seamlessly operate this thing in a manned team, and this will open the future. So I’m pretty excited because we need this ability. “