The U.S. Navy has awarded Boeing and Lockheed Martin $43 million contracts for further work on the Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray unmanned carrier aviation air system.
Under the latest contract, the companies asked to refine concepts and develop the trade space for requirements generation before the project enters the engineering and manufacturing development phase.
Both contractors are expected to complete the work by October 2017.
U.S. Navy officials have earlier confirmed that the MQ-25 Stingray would have two roles. The primary role would be aerial refueling with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) coming in second.
The service hopes to put first MQ-25 Stingrays into operation by 2020.