US Navy Bets On Carrier-Launched Drones To Counter China’s Missile Threat

The United States Navy is racing to field armed unmanned aircraft from its carriers, seeking to restore range, survivability, and strike power as China’s growing missile arsenal threatens America’s most visible symbols of sea power.

This month, the US Naval Institute (USNI) reported that the Navy awarded contracts to five defence giants— General Atomics, Boeing, Anduril, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin— to develop armed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) and control systems for deployment across its 11 nuclear-powered carriers.

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) confirmed the contracts, which aim to create modular and interoperable drones to augment today’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and F-35C stealth fighters, while preparing for integration with the future sixth-generation F/A-XX.

Lockheed Martin, through its Skunk Works division, will also lead development of the MD-5 Mission Control System, based on its MDCX autonomy platform. The project marks a sharp acceleration in the Navy’s once-cautious embrace of unmanned carrier aviation.

Is the US Navy pushed by China’s missiles and fleet strains?

The urgency is clear. An April 2025 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report warned that China’s military modernisation is steadily pushing US carriers deeper into a dense anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) envelope.

China’s 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.

At the same time, America’s carrier fighter fleet is aging. The first F/A-18A Hornets entered service four decades ago, while delays in the F/A-XX program have left the Navy tied to legacy airframes.

Operating F/A-18s and F-35Cs at safe distances— 1,800 to 2,700 kilometers to avoid Chinese missiles — requires extensive aerial refueling, clogging decks with tankers and reducing strike capacity.

Analysts such as Bryan Clark and Timothy Walton argue that today’s fighters are too slow, too conspicuous, and too short-ranged to survive against China’s integrated defences, forcing reliance on expensive standoff weapons.

Even with the MQ-25 Stingray tanker entering service, they warn, the air wing remains mismatched to Pacific distances.

Meanwhile, China is advancing its own carrier aviation. The new J-35 stealth carrier fighter and KJ-600 airborne early warning aircraft enhance Beijing’s ability to contest both sea and air control, creating a more capable rival carrier wing.

What are the political and strategic pressures?

The Navy’s shift is also being pushed from Washington. In June 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to expand drone procurement, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth followed in July with a directive dismantling restrictive acquisition policies.

Together, these moves signaled a political mandate to accelerate unmanned integration.

The Navy now plans a phased introduction of CCAs: beginning with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), then electronic warfare, and finally strike missions. Future carrier air wings could be up to 40% unmanned, with the F/A-XX envisioned as the “quarterback” directing drone teammates in contested environments.

Vice Admiral Dan Cheever recently acknowledged in Proceedings magazine that carrier aviation remains locked in legacy concepts, and CCAs are essential to adapt. By offering modularity, able to scout, jam, or strike depending on payload, drones promise to deliver multiple effects per scarce deck spot.

What are the challenges on the horizon?

But the path forward is far from smooth. Designing drones to autonomously take off, land, and manoeuvre safely on a carrier deck is one of the most complex challenges in aviation.

Standards for autonomy, payload integration, and mission planning are still evolving, while affordability pressures push the Navy to favor multi-mission, expendable platforms over exquisite but costly designs.

Critics also question whether carriers themselves can remain viable in the face of hypersonic weapons, submarines, and massed missile salvos.

A January 2025 RAND study suggested future strike groups may eventually include drone carriers in auxiliary roles, dispersing forces at lower cost. Yet concerns persist about electronic warfare threats to datalinks and the Navy’s institutional readiness to trust AI-driven systems.

What are the stakes for the Pacific?

For now, the Navy faces a race against time. China’s missile buildup is accelerating, while the US struggles with industrial and fiscal constraints at home.

If the Navy can move from prototypes to mass production quickly, future carrier air wings could finally shed their short legs and worn frames, trading vulnerability for long-range punch and survivability.

Whether unmanned systems can arrive in time to restore the carrier’s edge in Pacific skies remains one of the defining questions for American sea power in the 21st century.