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There was a lot of contention with this at first, but the Navy decided their first carrier based UAV / UAS would be a tanker to simply extend the range of their
by SEJeff 7y ago
There was a lot of contention with this at first, but the Navy decided their first carrier based UAV / UAS would be a tanker to simply extend the range of their existing fighter / bomber fleet instead of outright replacing it. This seems to be a very good move as it simply lengthens to the reach of the existing airpower.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y agoIt's a move meant to appease Congress by not saving money on unmanned weapons systems. The Pentagon has killed UAV programs that performed too well.
- jandrese 7y agoThe robots are coming for our jobs!
- mikece 7y agoAs someone else said it's a move to appease Congress -- but also the Air Bosses who lose several of their F-18s to tanker duty as well as the F-18 crews who HATE the tanker duty. I imagine the E-2D crews will be cautiously watching to see just how much ISR gear will be fitted to the MQ-25 in the name of "since it's on board, and since it's going to do a lot of loitering aloft while waiting to tank someone about to bingo, let's see how well it does in a limited ISR role..." After that it will be "What if we put a Wescam Ball and AESA array on an MQ-25?" At that point the E-2D program will be in jeopardy.
- greedo 7y agoUAVs will have a hard time in a doing AEW since array size is very important. Also, the crew of the E2s do quite a bit of the work, stuff that can't be automated. And when operating under EMCON, the value of an E2 is even higher.