Defense. US Navy, Boeing conduct first-ever refueling between unmanned tanker, F-35C (Megan Eckstein, Defense News)

An MQ-25 test asset conducts its first aerial refueling test flight with an F-35C Lightning II on Sept. 13 near the MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Illinois. (Boeing photo)

The U.S. Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray unmanned tanker conducted its first aerial refueling with an F-35C Joint Strike Fighter, the third aircraft type to take fuel from the Navy’s first unmanned system designed to deploy in a future carrier strike group.

Boeing’s T1 test aircraft and an F-35C from the Navy’s Air Test Wing and Evaluation Squadron 23 conducted a three-hour mission on Sept. 13, taking off from the MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah, Ill., and then going through a methodical process of linking up and refueling in this test environment. The Navy pilot conducted surveys and evaluations of the unmanned aircraft and the air around it before connecting with its drogue at 225 knots and 10,000 feet altitude. An air vehicle operator at the ground control station then initiated the fuel transfer from T1′s aerial refueling store to the F-35C.

US Navy, Boeing conduct first-ever refueling between unmanned tanker, F-35C (defensenews.com)