US Navy’s top aviator has indicated that the service’s new unmanned aerial tanker will be flying this year and operating off aircraft carriers in 2026.Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, commander of Naval Air Forces, told an audience here at West in San Diego, “We will fly MQ-25 in 25. You can quote me on that. We will fly that platform in 25 and get that thing on a carrier in 26 and start integrating [it]. That unlocks the future of manned-unmanned teaming.”He continued. “We’re going after that thing in a big way so we can do manned-unmanned teaming off an aircraft carrier and that is a different world. It opens up the future of sixth-gen collaborative combat aircraft and everything that comes after it,” He added, “I don’t see a lot of issues bringing it together .I’m just going to turn the weapons tactics instructors loose, and they will exactly figure out how to operate this thing seamlessly in a manned-unmanned teaming [environment]. So, [I’m] pretty excited for that, because we need that capability and we need it this year to start flying,”In this video, Defense Updates reports on MQ-25 Stingray aerial tanker potentially getting operational by 2026.#defenseupdates #mq25Stingray #usnavy Chapters:00:11 INTRODUCTION02:15 CRITICAL NEED03:15 MQ-25 STINGRAY OVERVIEW05:37 MQ-25 STINGRAY CAPABLITIES07:04 ANALYSIS