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The long-awaited first flight of the Boeing MQ-25 Stingray uncrewed refueler is imminent, as the U.S. Navy outlines an updated spending plan for an aircraft whose cost is increasing.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg in an April 22 earnings call said the MQ-25 saw an important milestone of high-speed taxi tests completed, with the first flight expected very soon. That first flight was originally scheduled for late 2025 but has slipped.
“The Stingray is our first unmanned aerial refueler for the U.S. Navy,” Ortberg says. “We are now one step closer to providing this first-of-its-kind capability to further enable the U.S. to project power worldwide.”
While the Navy awaits its first flight of its MQ-25, a Boeing-owned test asset had already conducted flight tests.
The Navy’s fiscal 2027 budget request includes $852 million to procure three Stingrays, after three were funded in the fiscal 2026 budget. Five more will be ordered in 2028, with seven per year expected for the following three years. The Navy plans a program of record of 76 MQ-25 air vehicles, including four engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) models and five system demonstration test articles funded through research and development funding. Three of the EMD aircraft will be used for the first MQ-25 deployment.
Budget justification documents say the flyaway unit cost for MQ-25 has risen to $181.6 million. In 2026, the combination mandatory and discretionary funding led to a flyaway unit cost of $166 million.
The 2027 request covers the three low-rate initial production (LRIP) aircraft along with advance procurement of long-lead materials for five LRIP Lot 3 aircraft. The LRIP award is planned for March 2027.
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