Responses are due by 29 October as the Royal Navy tests the market, with BAE Systems’ Herne and MSubs’ Excalibur setting up a contest where payloads may decide the winner.
Boeing has outlined its upcoming precision-landing and carrier-airspace trials as MQ-25 manufacturing shifts towards Illinois, with initial Lot 1 deliveries expected in 2029.
It will be nearly 20 years before Australia gets its hands on a first SSN, but in the meantime a new base will be established on the country's east coast.
There is potential for future Asian imports of Russian equipment to be hammered hard, and for increasing difficulties in maintaining current equipment, after Putin's ill-advised invasion of Ukraine.