The USS Theodore Roosevelt has become the first U.S. Navy aircraft carrier with a fully operational, deployable Unmanned Air Warfare Center capable of supporting Boeing’s MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aerial refueling aircraft, according to a Pentagon acquisition report.
The report says the Theodore Roosevelt’s center reached that status in March 2026. The carrier is the first designated as fully operational and deployable for the MQ-25, which the Navy describes as its first operational carrier-based unmanned aircraft.
Command-and-control capability
The Unmanned Air Warfare Center incorporates the systems needed to command and control the MQ-25 air vehicle: the integrated Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System and the MD-5E Ground Control Station. The Navy has identified those systems as critical to the refueling drone’s operations.
The Pentagon memo, dated April 21, 2026, was published in a Modernized Selected Acquisition Report. It also states that an Unmanned Air Warfare Center aboard USS Ronald Reagan was scheduled to become operational and deployable by the end of August 2026.
USS George H.W. Bush, another Nimitz-class carrier, was the first carrier to receive and test the center, in August 2024. Theodore Roosevelt’s new designation marks the transition from that earlier installation and testing work to a deployable carrier capability.
MQ-25 moves toward production
The carrier milestone comes as the MQ-25 program moves into low-rate initial production and deployment. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao announced in May during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the program had entered that phase. The Stingray also reached Milestone C in May, authorizing its transition from engineering and manufacturing development into production and deployment.
The Navy intends for the aircraft to take over aerial refueling missions now performed by F/A-18 Super Hornets, allowing F/A-18E/F aircraft to focus on strike missions. The Stingray completed an approximately two-hour flight near Mascoutah, Illinois, on April 25, further advancing the aircraft toward operations.
Boeing received an $805 million Navy contract in 2018 for the design, development, fabrication, testing and delivery of four Stingray aircraft. At the time, the service estimated a 72-aircraft program would cost about $13 billion. With Theodore Roosevelt now able to support MQ-25 operations, the Navy has established a deployable carrier command-and-control capability for the unmanned tanker.
