US Navy Carriers Now Have “Unmanned Air Warfare Centers” to Launch Drones & CCAs

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

The US Navy plans to fly “Combat Collaborative Aircraft” drones from its aircraft carriers in coming years, a possibility now within sight given the Navy’s successful operation of a first-of-its-kind carrier-integrated Unmanned Air Warfare Center.

The first operational Unmanned Air Warfare Center built into an aircraft carrier is, in the near term, intended to launch and operate the emerging MQ-25 Stingray refeuler drone, yet the service is also looking toward future missions for the UAWC. 

Naval MQ-25 Stingray Drone Carrier Launched

‘These systems will initially support the MQ-25 but also future unmanned systems such as Collaborative Combat Aircraft that comprise the Air Wing of the Future,” Unmanned Carrier Aviation (PMA-268) Program Manager Capt. Daniel Fucito,” said in an interesting essay from Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). 

The arrival of the MQ-25 Stingray is both anticipated and significant, given the way it can massively extend the combat reach of carrier-launched fighter jets; yet beyond this, the prospect of launching Combat Collaborative Aircraft from carriers is forward-thinking and arguably more significant because it means carrier-launched drones can perform a much wider range of missions beyond refueling to include forward surveillance, aerial “node” relay sensing, ammunition and supply delivery across domains in high-threat environments and even strike missions when directed by a human in a manned jet or ship-based command and control center. 

The CCAs. as they are called, are intended to function as attritable, lower cost loyal wingman drones capable of supporting 6th-gen aircraft in flight; much has been discussed regarding the US Air Force application of CCAs designed to operate as part of a “family-of-systems” aligned with the now-developing Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) 6th-Gen aircraft.