Navy Links Carrier to MQ-25A Over 2,100 Miles

The U.S. Navy said it connected the control station aboard the USS Ronald Reagan to an MQ-25A Stingray test aircraft more than 2,100 miles away, demonstrating a satellite communications link between a carrier underway and an aircraft on the ground. The test took place as the carrier operated in the Pacific and the Stingray was at Boeing’s facility in Mascoutah, Illinois. Navy operators used the ship’s MD5C Ground Control Station and a proliferated low Earth orbit satellite network to establish the beyond-line-of-sight connection. The Navy described it as the first such link between a carrier-based control station aboard a ship underway and an MQ-25A. The aircraft remained at the Illinois facility during the demonstration. The Navy said the test did not involve a flight, aerial refueling, or a carrier launch or recovery. Instead, it focused on communications and command systems intended to support future operations of unmanned aircraft from carriers. The Navy has described the trial as part of a series of exercises to validate procedures, networks and interfaces for controlling the Stingray. The MD5C system links the Navy’s command, control, communications, computers and...