US rushing drones to carriers to blunt China’s missile edge

The US, pressed by China’s missile reach and its own aging carrier fighters, is rushing unmanned warplanes onto its carriers to claw back range, survivability and strike power.

This month, USNI reported that the US Navy has contracted five defense firms—General Atomics, Boeing, Anduril, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin—to develop armed, unmanned aircraft and control systems for deployment across its 11 aircraft carriers.

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) confirmed the contracts, which aim to produce modular, interoperable Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) to augment F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and F-35Cs, while eventually pairing with the future sixth-generation F/A-XX.

Lockheed Martin will also lead development of the MD-5 Mission Control System via its Skunk Works MDCX autonomy platform.

The move reflects a confluence of problems, namely delays in the F/A-XX program, the steady aging of the carrier fighter fleet, and the expanding range of Chinese missiles. An April 2025 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report warned that China’s military modernization is pushing US carriers deeper inside a dense anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) envelope.

The report points out that land-based DF-21D and DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missiles, along with the YJ-21 hypersonic missile, are designed to hold US carriers at risk across the Western Pacific.

CRS cautioned that unless the US Navy can extend the range and survivability of its carrier air wings, they will either have to operate within missile ranges or remain too far offshore to be effective.

China is also advancing its own naval aviation. The introduction of the J-35 stealth carrier fighter and the KJ-600 airborne early warning aircraft strengthens China’s ability to contest sea and air control. For the US Navy, this means carriers face not only growing missile salvos from land and sea but also a more capable Chinese air wing at sea.

Against this backdrop, the US Navy’s historically slow adoption of unmanned systems is accelerating. Carrier deck space and integration hurdles once made the service hesitant, but it is now leveraging the US Air Force’s progress on CCAs to mitigate risk and cost.

Political pressure has also catalyzed the push: in June, President Donald Trump signed an executive order expanding drone procurement, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth followed in July with a memo dismantling restrictive policies and urging rapid acquisition.

Analysts argue the first wave of CCAs will act as risk-worthy teammates for manned aircraft. Naval analyst Bryan Clark says the drones provide a short-term solution by extending strike range and enhancing versatility across intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, electronic warfare and even air-to-air combat.

He notes that with limited deck spots, every aircraft must produce multiple effects, and CCAs are being designed for modularity—capable of scouting on one mission, jamming on another, and striking on a third.

The urgency stems from the limitations of today’s air wing. Vice Admiral Dan Cheever pointed out in a July 2025 article in Proceedings that the first F/A-18As entered service four decades ago, tying the fleet to legacy concepts.

Clark and Timothy Walton of the Hudson Institute emphasize that operating F/A-18s and F-35Cs at safe distances—1,800 to 2,700 kilometers to avoid Chinese missile salvos—requires heavy aerial refueling, which clogs decks with tankers and siphons away strike capacity.

They judge the jets as too slow, too conspicuous and too short-ranged to challenge China’s integrated defenses, forcing reliance on costly standoff munitions. Even with the MQ-25 tanker, they argue, the air wing remains misaligned to Pacific distances.

The US Navy’s own planning acknowledges these constraints. Its Aviation Vision 2030–2035 casts the F/A-XX as the future core of the air wing, with more extended range, higher speed, advanced sensors, and integration with next-generation weapons.

Paired with the F-35C, the document notes the F/A-XX would act as the “quarterback” of manned-unmanned teams, directing CCAs into contested environments while reducing risk to crews. Though still in the design phase, the US Air Force has already test-flown a YFQ-42A CCA prototype, adding momentum to a carrier-capable version.

Carrier air wings of the future may be up to 40% unmanned, with new CCA missions introduced incrementally: first intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), then electronic warfare, and then strike.

This phased approach lowers risk while freeing manned fighters for high-value missions. The MQ-25’s organic tanking role accelerates this shift, relieving manned jets from refueling duties and enabling distributed, networked operations across the wing.

Yet the road is fraught with obstacles. Breaking Defense recently noted that designing autonomous aircraft capable of carrier takeoff, landing, and deck handling is a uniquely complex challenge.

The report says standards for autonomy, payload integration and mission planning are still in flux. It also states that cost pressures loom, with affordability driving the US Navy to favor expendable, multi-mission drones with shorter lifespans over exquisite but scarce designs.

Bigger questions linger over the carrier itself. Critics point to its vulnerability to hypersonics, submarines, and massed missile fire, while defenders highlight its enduring utility in power projection, naval diplomacy, and military operations against non-peer adversaries.

 A January 2025 RAND report by Scott Savitz and Amanda Perez envisions future strike groups incorporating drone carriers in auxiliary roles. They suggest one or more such ships could eventually become the centerpiece of a formation, providing numbers and dispersal at lower cost.

They argue that cheaper, lightly crewed drone carriers could ease the US Navy’s overstretched force structure. However, they also caution that contested electromagnetic environments pose a threat to data links, and that reliance on AI requires institutional trust and procedural adaptations that may still be years away.

Such visions underscore the uncertainty of the US Navy’s path. The service faces an accelerating Chinese missile buildup while grappling with technological, industrial, and fiscal constraints at home.

The key question is whether it can move from experiments and prototypes to mass-produced, carrier-capable drones fast enough. If it succeeds, future US carrier air wings could finally trade short legs and worn frames for long-range punch, hardened survivability and a decisive edge in Pacific skies.