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I'll be honest, this pick surprised me for several reasons.The first was that I expected it to come after T-X. Boeing needs something to keep the St. Louis facility open after Super Hornet production winds down, which meant either T-X or MQ-25. T-X was scheduled to be awarded in July of this year, my thinking was that this would be delayed (which has been routine for over 30 years) three months or so...and if Boeing won, the Navy had a free hand with MQ-25.As for the choice, I had figured that with Lockheed building F-35s for the next 20 years, they weren't going to get the contract. My own bet was on General Atomics, mostly due to the greater level of UAV experience and the more powerful engine.One thing to remember is that the whole UAV-as-bomb-dropper was something industry was trying to fob off on the Navy. From the Navy's perspective, they had F/A-18s that dropped bombs, F-35s that dropped more bombs, and Tomahawks that were self-dropping bombs. There's no need for another bomb-dropper...but a crying need for a tanker that is significantly cheaper than a Super Hornet. No, the Navy played this right.
I'll be honest, this pick surprised me for several reasons.
The first was that I expected it to come after T-X. Boeing needs something to keep the St. Louis facility open after Super Hornet production winds down, which meant either T-X or MQ-25. T-X was scheduled to be awarded in July of this year, my thinking was that this would be delayed (which has been routine for over 30 years) three months or so...and if Boeing won, the Navy had a free hand with MQ-25.
As for the choice, I had figured that with Lockheed building F-35s for the next 20 years, they weren't going to get the contract. My own bet was on General Atomics, mostly due to the greater level of UAV experience and the more powerful engine.
One thing to remember is that the whole UAV-as-bomb-dropper was something industry was trying to fob off on the Navy. From the Navy's perspective, they had F/A-18s that dropped bombs, F-35s that dropped more bombs, and Tomahawks that were self-dropping bombs. There's no need for another bomb-dropper...but a crying need for a tanker that is significantly cheaper than a Super Hornet. No, the Navy played this right.
