The Navy pushed back its timeline for the Boeing [BA] MQ-25A Stingray carrier-based unmanned tanker aircraft after the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DOD OIG) warned the current schedule pushing production ahead of sufficient testing could ultimately risk creating more costs and deployment delays.
According to a DoD OIG report published on Nov. 20, the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Aviation program Office originally planned “to make critical production decisions before the Program Office conducts developmental and operational tests and evaluations that would verify the MQ‑25 program will meet its operational capability requirements.”
The milestone decision authority specifically planned to make the Milestone C decision, allowing the office to sign the low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract, before it performed “sufficient” developmental test and evaluation with a production-representative MQ-25A.
It also said the Director of Air Warfare Division, N98, planned to declare initial operational capability (IOC) before the program office performs sufficient initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E). IOC would affirm the aircraft is capable of conducting its mission operations.
The report said Navy officials planned to make these decisions “without the tests and evaluations because of what the Navy assesses to be the critical and urgent expected benefits of deploying the MQ‑25A.”
The IOG said the Navy argued that if the MQ-25A operates as intended, the benefits include extending the operating range of carrier air wings, reducing refueling burden put on F/A-18s and ultimately saving cost and improving readiness.
However, the Inspector General argued that the Navy making this kind of “critical production decisions” without conducting enough testing will introduce additional risk that the MQ-25 may ultimately not meet its operational capability requirements, which would then impose “costly and time‑consuming engineering changes and may delay the MQ‑25A’s deployment.”
OIG recommended the Navy delay the Milestone C and IOC decisions until the program office can conduct enough tests and evaluations. Alternatively, it recommended the program office at least update the program’s risk management documentation to identify, assess and develop measures to mitigate the impacts of not performing DT&E and IOT&E before the milestone C and IOC decisions.
In April, the Program Executive Officers for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons revealed the MQ-25 IOC decision was pushed back a year to 2026 due to production maturity issues. IOC was originally set for 2026 before the Navy pulled it up to 2024, but then delayed it to 2025 and back again to 2026. (Defense Daily, April 13).
In July, a DoD omnibus reprogramming request asked Congress to decrease some MQ-25 procurement funds by $580 million due to delays in delivery of the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) aircraft, which caused the Navy to re-evaluate the MQ-25A schedule (Defense Daily, July 18).
The OIG report underscored these delays pushed back delivery of the first production-representative vehicle, which led to the Navy developing a new acquisition strategy in April 2022, further modified in August 2022. While the report redacted specific schedule moves, OIG said in these revisions Navy actually planned to move up the Milestone C decision, rather than delaying it.
OIG said this timeline for Milestone C “was before the Program Office expected to receive any of the production‑representative vehicles or conduct any DT&E. Therefore, according to the August 2022 schedule and a meeting with the Program Office in December 2022 that confirmed the schedule, the Program Office did not plan to conduct any DT&E before the MS‑C decision.”
The report also said no IOT&E was planned before the Director of Air Warfare Division declares IOC, with the IOC decision also moved up in the August 2022 schedule.
OIG then issued a notice of concern to the Navy in January 2023 “to ensure the [milestone decision authority] was informed of the risks of conducting DT&E after the MS‑C decision that was scheduled in February 2023.”
The Navy responded to OIG that the decision authority would update the risk documentation rather than delay the program.
However, in March, the program office provided another round of updates, with the first production-representative air vehicle delayed again, so the Milestone C and LRIP decisions were delayed as well. Notably, DT&E was not set to start until delivery of the production-representative MQ-25A occurs and IOT&E will not start until after IOC is declared.
The report said with the updated schedule program office officials said “recent discussions with Boeing led the Navy to expect additional schedule changes in the future.”
The OIG said despite the early 2023 schedule updates, there was still risk the program office had not addressed. It reiterated its recommendation that the Navy either delay Milestone C, LRIP, and IOC decisions until enough testing supports them or update the program risk management documentation and plans “to include the significant risks associated with making these decisions prior to conducting sufficient tests and evaluations.”
OIG argued the 2023 updates show the risk that the program office could continue to “experience unanticipated delays in receiving the air vehicles it purchases.”
It continued that this means there is a “realistic chance” the delays will pile on and lead to the MQ-25 missing its scheduled deployment dates, so carrier air wings rely on F/A-18s for tanker duties longer than expected.
Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition (ASN-RDA) and the Director of the Air Warfare Division, N98, initially responded to the report by updating risk management documentation.
However, the Navy subsequently adjusted the MQ-25 plans “toward a more traditional acquisition strategy.”
The Navy now does not plan for Milestone C and LRIP contract decisions to occur in 2023 and the service said it will ensure best practices continue.
The Navy has developed an updated draft acquisition strategy with the revised schedule that it plans to implement once it has the right resources and authorities covered in the eventual fiscal year 2024 defense appropriations bill.
While OIG welcomed the changes for a more traditional acquisition strategy, it noted the Navy officials did not say whether sufficient DT&E will occur before the decision points or sufficient IOT&E will be conducted before IOC is declared.
The Navy plans to procure 76 total MQ-25As, including seven production-representative air vehicles, 12 LRIP deliveries and 57 full rate production vehicles.
The DoD’s Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) for December 2022, made public in October, said MQ-25 average unit procurement costs increased due to delays in the EMD aircraft so overall procurement plans were delayed (Defense Daily, Oct. 10).
While the OIG report had a partially redacted explanation of the Navy’s original argument for pushing MQ-25A decisions early, it said the Navy views MQ-25A as a “crucial step in the Navy meeting its goal of having 60 percent of its CVN air wings unmanned by 2040. Therefore, the Chief of Naval Operations stated that it was critically important to deploy the MQ‑25A on CVNs as quickly as possible.”