Northrop Grumman quits MQ-25A Stingray

摘要

Northrop Grumman has pulled out of the competition to build the US Navy's MQ-25A Stingray carrier-based tanker UAV, expected to be decided in 2018. The action came as a surprise as it had received US Navy risk reduction funding, along with its competitors Lockheed Martin, Boeing and General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI), and was expected to offer a design based on its X-47B that demonstrated the feasibility of carrier-based unmanned operations. An X-47B had already flown with a US Navy buddy tanking pod externally mounted.