Sam Messer, unmanned carrier aviation program manager, said in an email to National Defense. “The MQ-25 will establish the basics of operating an unmanned aircraft in the carrier environment, laying the groundwork for all future carrier-based UAS operations,” Capt. In 2018, Boeing was awarded an $805 million engineering and manufacturing development contract to build the Stingray.Įxperts say the new unmanned aerial system - the first large, fixed-wing drone that will operate from a ship and support manned planes - will have an outsized impact on the future of naval aviation. However, service officials are still pondering whether the aircraft carrier-based tanker will be armed with offensive strike weapons. The Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray drone program racked up major achievements over the past year and is on track to usher in a new era of manned-unmanned teaming. James Connelly of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.An unmanned Boeing MQ-25 Stingray test aircraft refuels a manned F-35 joint strike fighter. The plane missed a residential area by a half-mile, said Sgt. Some of the wreckage landed about 500 yards from the Greenwood Elementary School, where 400 people had attended a science fair an hour earlier. It was burning, then there was a loud explosion and we just got out of there.'' We jumped in a car and went over there, but it was too far back into the field. He said the sky got brighter before he saw the plane emerge from the clouds, ''rotating in a helicopter position, then it went straight down.'' The National Weather Service said the storm was not particularly severe when the plane exploded and crashed 50 miles northwest of Chicago.Ī witness said the four-engine jet, a military version of the Boeing 707, lit up the sky ''like lightning.'' ''It was an orange color and it was frightening because we never saw anything that bright before,'' said Richard Carpenter. Raynesford said the cause of the crash would be investigated by the military. No Trouble Indicatedīob Raynesford of the Federal Aviation Administration said the last communications the plane had with the air control center in Aurora, Ill., indicated there were no problems. Sawyer Air Force Base in northern Michigan, where the KC135, which was on a routine training mission, picked up the reservists to take them back to Chicago. He said the C130 had developed engine trouble and landed at K.I. Colonel Gunby said the 23 passengers had been aboard a C130 aircraft flying from the State of Washington to O'Hare. Colonel Gunby said the passengers were Air Force reservists assigned to the 928th Tactical Air Lift Group at O'Hare International Airport.Īlvin Querhammer, the McHenry County coroner, said the bodies were taken to a temporary morgue at the McHenry County Court complex.

Phil Gunby of the 126th Air Refueling Wing, to which the plane was attached, said four crew members and 23 passengers were aboard the plane. The Illinois National Guard KC135 tanker exploded in a thunderstorm and crashed from a height of 13,000 feet, scattering wreckage over four miles of northern Illinois, said Lieut.

Search crews tramping through snowy fields on foot and on horseback today recovered the bodies of all 27 persons killed when a military jet crashed in a ball of fire Friday night.

F18 carrier landing in flight refuel