The US Navy recently installed the world’s first Unmanned Air Warfare Center (UAWC) aboard the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier, where Air Vehicle Pilots (AVPs) will control future airborne operations utilizing the MQ-25™ Stingray aerial refueling Unmanned Systems.

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According to a relevant announcement, its installation was a product, among others, of a multi-year effort coordinated across multiple ship availability periods.

The CVN-based (nuclear-powered aircraft carrier) control room, known as the UAWC, includes software and hardware systems that make up the first fully operational and integrated Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System (UMCS) MD-5E Ground Control Station (GCS). UMCS is the system-of-systems required for the MQ-25 air vehicle command and control and is critical to unmanned aircraft refueling operations.

CVN 77’s UAWC lays the foundation for how the U.S. Navy will operate and control unmanned aircraft, and perhaps other unmanned vehicles, with UMCS. These systems will initially support the MQ-25 but also future unmanned systems such as those of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.

The GCS, developed by the US Navy, includes Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works® Multi Domain Combat System (MDCX™), the power behind the GCS, along with additional supporting equipment and hardware. The hardware installed in the racks and cockpits is the baseline for the production systems currently being fabricated for installation on CVNs 70, 71, and 76 beginning in fiscal year 2025. 

Early next year, CVN 77 will lead the first at-sea testing of the UAWC’s operational networks, building on initial network testing with a simulated GCS that took place in January aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).

This will be the first time the AVPs from Unmanned Carrier-Launched Multi-Role Squadron (VUQ) 10 will operate the MD-5 from an aircraft carrier. 

When operational, MQ-25 will provide an aerial refueling capability to extend the range and flexibility of the carrier air wing.

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