From: Harold Brattland <habrattland@arvig.net> Sent: Tuesday, December 9, 2025 9:07 AM Check out this site https://aviationweek.com/defense/aircraft-propulsion/mq-25-first-flight-slip... -- MQ-25 First Flight Slips Into 2026 Brian Everstine <https://aviationweek.com/author/brian-everstine> December 08, 2025 <https://aviationweek.com/sites/default/files/styles/crop_freeform/public/2025-12/mq25.jpg?itok=ErmnhuFD> The Boeing MQ-25 T1 demonstrator during a 2022 test. Credit: U.S. Navy SIMI VALLEY, California—The much-anticipated first flight of the Boeing <https://aviationweek.com/term/boeing> MQ-25 Stingray for the U.S. Navy has been pushed to early 2026, a delay after both service and company leaders called for the flight by year’s end. The Navy in a statement said the MQ-25 team is making progress toward the first flight goal, though the timeline for the initial test has shifted. “Over the last several months, the team has completed MQ-25A Stingray structural testing on a static aircraft, conducted initial engine runs, completed its flight-certified software, and commanded the vehicle from the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System (UMCS),” the Navy said in a statement. The aircraft is in the final stages of ground testing ahead of taxi and then flight. “The team is finalizing systems testing and flight clearance, with the first flight planned once certification is complete and weather permits,” the Navy says. The delay comes after both the government shutdown and a strike at Boeing <https://aviationweek.com/term/boeing> ’s Mid-America Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois, and St. Louis facilities. But neither the Navy nor Boeing <https://aviationweek.com/term/boeing> pinned the delay to either. Boeing <https://aviationweek.com/term/boeing> in a statement said flight-certified software is in place, the aircraft is receiving commands from the Lockheed Martin UMCS and the aircraft has completed engine runs. “Boeing <https://aviationweek.com/term/boeing> and the Navy are taking additional time to complete deliberate systems-level testing and review and approve the final airworthiness artifacts needed for a flight clearance. Once that’s complete and we have a suitable weather window, we will fly,” a Boeing <https://aviationweek.com/term/boeing> spokesperson says. The first flight will be of the first production-representative MQ-25 built for the Navy program. A previous test article has completed multiple flight tests. The Navy has said the MQ-25 is critical because it will be the trailblazer for uncrewed operations on carriers. Beginning in April, top Navy and Boeing <https://aviationweek.com/term/boeing> officials predicted the first flight would come by year’s end. Dan Gillian, Boeing <https://aviationweek.com/term/boeing> ’s vice president and general manager of air dominance, told Aviation Week in April that “the airplane, the system and the team are all saying this is going to happen this year.” Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, commander of Naval Air Forces, told Aviation Week in August that “affirm, by the end of the year 2025” the flight would happen. “That is the thing that unlocks the key to the future for manned/unmanned teaming on the aircraft carrier,” he said. “It really provides a future for collaborative combat aircraft on the air wing of the future, which is a good mix, a healthy mix of manned and unmanned assets of different sizes and types.” <https://aviationweek.com/sites/default/files/styles/author_thumbnail/public/2021-11/Brian%20Everstine%205x7_1.jpg?itok=wafr1QlB> Brian Everstine <https://aviationweek.com/author/brian-everstine> Brian Everstine is the Pentagon Editor for Aviation Week, based in Washington, D