Boeing Wins Bid To Build the Navy's Carrier-Launched Tanker Drone (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on Friday August 31, 2018 @10:00PM from the it's-a-bird-it's-a-plane-it's-a-tanker-drone dept.

Boeing has been awarded an $805 million contract by the U.S. Navy to build four prototypes of its design for the MQ-25 "Stingray," an unmanned, carrier-based tanker aircraft. The drone "will help extend the range of the Navy's future carrier air wings and keep carriers themselves out of range of coastal defenses," reports Ars Technica. From the report: Boeing beat out Lockheed Martin and General Atomics for the contract. Northrop Grumman -- which built the Navy's first carrier-based drone prototype, the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System-Demonstration (UCAS-D) -- dropped out of the competition last year. The prototype contract is the first step toward delivering "initial operating capability," a first production run of the drones, by 2024. The MQ-25's design requirements called for an aircraft capable of launching from a carrier deck and delivering 14,000 pounds (6,300kg) of fuel to aircraft 500 nautical miles (926km) away. That capacity and range, along with the low-observable shape of the drone, could essentially double the range of F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-35C Joint Strike Fighter attack missions. Eventually, Boeing could deliver up to 72 Stingrays at a cost of $13 billion.

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Re:Eisenhower's Farewell Address by gtall · 2018-09-01 00:52 · Score: 2, Interesting

Ermmm...you are familiar with U.S. healthcare costs, yes? According to the numbers in 2017, the U.S. spent a bit over $3 trillion on healthcare.
The U.S. GDP for 2017 was about $18.5 Trillion. The Defense bill for that year was roughly $600 Billion. Of that $600, about half goes for military salaries and healthcare, another $150 for overhead on facilities (bases, etc.). That left about $150 - $200 Billion for procurement. But that procurement covers everything, not just new weapons. There is no swinging a $18.5 Trillion economy on $200 Billion defense procurement.
BTW: The military-industrial complex died during Reagan years. Companies found that the U.S. military was small potatoes compared to the civilian economy and it shifted to it. Now, the Pentagon has to beg companies to produce for it since DoD's market is so small in comparison to the rest of the economy.
Do try to keep up, eh?